MUMBAI — 1985 · Serial Murder

The "Stoneman" Murders

UnsolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

From 1985, for roughly two years, homeless people sleeping alone on the pavements of Bombay's (now Mumbai) Sion and King's Circle areas were attacked at night with a heavy stone and killed. The perpetrator, dubbed the "Stoneman" by the press, was believed responsible for twelve deaths. The killings stopped abruptly in mid-1988. Thirteen similar killings in Calcutta in 1989 raised speculation that the two series were linked, but no connection was ever proven. Detentions were made in both cities, yet no one was tried and the cases remain unsolved.

Date: 1985
Place: Sion, Maharashtra, India, Mumbai, IN
Category: Serial Murder
Case Status: Unsolved
Coordinates: 19.0400, 72.8620 ↗

Timeline of Events

1985Killings of homeless people began in Sion and King's Circle.
1987After the sixth killing, police began treating the deaths as a series.
Mid-1988The Bombay killings stopped abruptly.

June 1989A new series using a similar method began in Calcutta.
1990sNo charges were ever brought; the cases remained unsolved.

Sources

Wikipedia — Stoneman en.wikipedia.org ↗
Homegrown — Stoneman: The 1980s serial killer homegrown.co.in ↗
Wikipedia
Homegrown

Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.