108 year old mass murderer released from prison

He became a mass murderer at the age of 84 and was jailed after a trial that lasted more than two decades. Now, at the age of 108, Brij Bihari Pandey is again a free man.

EPABrij Bihari Pandey had to be carried out of jail after being released early from his sentence for killing four people

However, the saga may yet have another violent twist — the families of his four victims are said to be vowing to deny him a peaceful death.

All his adult life Pandey had nursed the hope that he would become mahant (chief priest) of the Lord Jagannath temple in his village of Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh. When the appointment went to the son of a rival, Pandey and 15 of his kin went on a rampage, killing the mahant’s father and three other relatives.

It took another 23 years for justice to be served but in December 2009, when Pandey was 107, he became India’s oldest prison inmate. When he went into jail he could barely walk and when he was released at the weekend he had to be carried to a waiting car.

After his most recent spell in hospital it was clear that he was close to death, according to the authorities. It was the inconvenience caused by his need for care that led authorities to ask the courts for clemency, according to S. K. Sharma, superintendent of Gorakhpur jail, which is 190 miles (305km) from the state capital Lucknow. “It was getting difficult to take care of a 108-year-old prisoner,” he said.

In interviews given while he was in prison, Pandey said that he repented of his murders and the ambition that led him to commit them. As India’s oldest prisoner he acquired fame and a measure of affection from inmates and prison guards. Fellow prisoners helped wash the man they styled Baba and ensured that he had rice and lentils because he was too old to chew chapattis, according to The Times of India.

Allahabad High Court accepted that he should die in his village and ordered his release on probation two weeks ago but it took until Friday for his relatives to raise the surety. When the time of his release came inmates and prison guards garlanded him.

Although some reports claimed that he said “God is great” and that he hugged his captors, others say he merely lifted his eyes to the heaven in silent thanks.

In the village of his birth 300 villagers turned out to welcome him home but his cousin, Avneesh Pandey, said that not everyone was pleased about the return of a murderer after less than two years in jail. “We fear that the mahant and his aides might try do some harm to us,” he said.