Barely 18 days had passed, when they came out with another shocker: They had just nabbed Chandrakanth S Sharma (48), a videographer charged with eliminating 21 persons in Karnataka and Maharastra.
Police interrogations uncovered more on the two. Mallika had allegedly begun the process in 1999, 21 years after Sharma started his in 1978. While Sharma was reportedly violent, adopting different methods, Mallika played it safe.

Her way of operation, according to the police, was the same for all the alleged murders. Mallika’s victims were all women, while Sharma preferred men.

Mallika, a resident of Badakatte village in Kaggalipura hobli on Kanakapura Main road, had started a chit fund business in 1994, and incurred losses. Harassment from money lenders and family disputes led her to desert her husband and daughters, and take abode in temples. Her temple stays took her to Chikka Koratagere, Yediyur and Sathanur. But life without money was tough. According to police, this was the turning point - when she decided to rob and eliminate women devotees by misusing their faith in religion and rituals.

Mallika reportedly chose women devotees who frequented temples in search of their missing children, or seekings financial solutions or godly intervention to beget a child.

Luring them under the guise of performing pujas in choultry rooms, she reportedly thrust cyanide into the mouths of the devotees engrossed in prayers. She would then abandon the bodies and flee, according to the police.
Sharma had landed in Bangalore in 1985. He allegedly gave supari, shot victims, blew up cars, used lethal weapons, splashed overdose of chloroform on victims’ faces and even stabbed to kill some of his victims. But the claims are still being investigated.