Dandupalya


Dandupalya is a village in the taluk of Hoskote in Karnataka, India. It lies near the Old Madras Road, National Highway 4, about 5 kilometers from the town of Hoskote and an hour's drive from Bangalore. It has become notorious for the activities of the Dandupalya gang which between about 1996 and 2001 committed murders, rapes, and robberies. The gang numbered about 30 men and women, some of whom lived in Dandupalya. They are thought to have killed more than 80 people. Sixteen death sentences and four sentences of life imprisonment have been given to members of the gang, while others have received shorter prison sentences.
The childhood of Danduplaya gang members was stricken with hunger and bone biting poverty which lead to the "Dog-Eat-Dog" survival instinct. The gang when finally apprehended by the police would take in a surprising amount of physical torture but would break down and confess to their crimes only when lured with food, especially chicken.
In 2012 a Kannada film, Dandupalya, was made about the activities of the gang.