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Umesh Reddy Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 16, 2026 • 3 min read

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Quick Info

Date of birth1969

Age53 (as of 2022)

BirthplaceBasappa Malige village, Chitradurga district, Karnataka, India

ProfessionConvicted criminal, former CRPF and DAR police personnel

NationalityIndian

FamilyMother: Gowramma; only child

Umesh Reddy Biography

Umesh Reddy is an Indian convicted criminal and former member of the armed forces and police, convicted in multiple rape and murder cases across Karnataka,

Early life and background

Umesh Reddy was born in 1969 and grew up in Basappa Malige village in Chitradurga district, Karnataka. He is the only child of his mother Gowramma and his family is described as moderate. From a young age he was drawn to men in uniform and later pursued roles in the Central Reserve Police Force and the Karnataka District Armed Reserve.

Career

In his early twenties Reddy joined the CRPF and served as a guard at a commandant’s house in Jammu and Kashmir. After an incident there in which he was arrested, he fled police custody and returned to Karnataka. He then joined the District Armed Reserve (DAR) and underwent training in Madhya Pradesh before being posted as a constable in Hiriyur taluk, Chitradurga.

During his periods in uniform and after leaving service, Reddy accumulated a record of criminal behaviour that included sexual offences, thefts and violent crime. Allegations in police case files and his own confessions link him to the kidnapping, rape and murder of multiple victims beginning in the mid-1990s. He was dismissed from DAR after being identified by a minor who survived an attempted attack and later charged in the murder of a 16-year-old named Roopa. Reddy escaped custody multiple times after arrests and remand transfers, and while at large he is alleged to have continued offending across several Indian states.

Arrests, convictions and imprisonment

Reddy was arrested on multiple occasions between 1997 and 2002, with several notable escapes from custody reported during that period. A recognition by a member of the public in a hair salon in May 2002 led to a police re-arrest. He confessed to raping and killing around 20 women across Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat, though courts found him guilty in nine cases and acquitted him in eleven due to insufficient evidence in those matters.

A fast-track sessions court in Bengaluru sentenced Reddy to death in 2006 for the rape and murder of Jayashree Subbaiah. That sentence was upheld through various levels of the judiciary and a presidential mercy petition was rejected. In November 2022 the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence to a 30-year term of imprisonment, citing prolonged solitary confinement as a ground for commutation.

While in prison Reddy was held under strict conditions. He spent many years in solitary confinement at Hindalga jail in Belagavi, with reports describing tight daily routines and limited contact with other inmates. He submitted appeals to jail authorities that were repeatedly denied.

Public profile

Police investigations into Reddy’s crimes emphasized a consistent modus operandi: choosing vulnerable single women, widows and homemakers during daytime hours, gaining entry to homes under a pretext such as asking for water, using threats and a knife, and committing sexual assault followed by strangulation. Investigators also noted a pattern of taking jewellery and women's undergarments from victims; media reports repeatedly described his fixation on lingerie and linked that behaviour to items found on him at arrests.

Indian media coverage frequently compared elements of his pattern to historic serial killers in other countries, and his case attracted sustained attention because of the cross-state nature of the offences and the reported number of victims.

Cultural references

Reddy’s crimes have been the subject of films and documentary treatment. Kannada films titled Umesh and Khatarnak Umesh were released drawing on his story. A character modeled on him appeared in the films Dandupalya 2 (2017) and Dandupalya 3 (2018). In 2022 Netflix released a Kannada-language true-crime docu-series about the case titled Indian Predator: Beast of Bangalore (Saga of a former cop-turned-predator).

Latest updates

The most recent major judicial development is the Supreme Court’s November 2022 order commuting Reddy’s death sentence to a 30-year imprisonment term on grounds related to his long confinement in solitary.

Editorial Review and Sources

This F4U profile is written from publicly available career and profile information, then reviewed for clarity before publication. If you spot an outdated detail about Umesh Reddy, send the page URL and a reliable correction source to f4udotin@gmail.com.

Reference context: StarsUnfolded

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Recent Work

Indian Predator: Beast of Bangalore (Saga of a former cop-turned-predator)

Kannada true-crime docu-series on Netflix based on the story of Umesh Reddy

2022
Umesh

Kannada film inspired by Reddy’s life

2013
Khatarnak Umesh

Kannada film based on his story

Dandupalya 2 / Dandupalya 3 (character based on Reddy)

Films in which a character inspired by Umesh Reddy appears, played by Adi Lokesh

2017/2018
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Career Highlights

  1. Former member of the Central Reserve Police Force and Karnataka District Armed Reserve
  2. Confessed to raping and killing around 20 women across Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat
  3. Convicted in nine cases and initially sentenced to death in 2006 for the murder of Jayashree Subbaiah
  4. Death sentence commuted to 30-year imprisonment by the Supreme Court in November 2022
Reviewed by F4U Editorial Desk

F4U profile pages are prepared from public career information, checked for readability, and updated when reliable correction sources are shared with the editorial team.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Umesh Reddy born?

Umesh Reddy was born on 1969.

What is Umesh Reddy known for?

Umesh Reddy is known for convicted criminal, former CRPF and DAR police personnel.