General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20263 min read

Indian Predator: Beast of Bangalore

Indian Predator: Beast of Bangalore is a 2022 Indian true-crime documentary series released on Netflix, covering the crimes of the serial offender Umesh Reddy against women in Karnataka between 1996 and 1998. It consists of three episodes, each named for a year of the investigation, and was directed and written by Ashwin Rai Shetty.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Three-episode documentary limited series, average runtime about 48 minutes¹^•³
Release	December 16, 2022, on Netflix⁴
Subject	Umesh Reddy's murderous pursuit of women and the police hunt across 1996, 1997, and 1998¹
Director and writer	Ashwin Rai Shetty²
Original language	Kannada; audio also in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu¹
Ratings	TV-MA in the United States; certificate A in India⁴^•⁵
Audience score	6.2/10 on IMDb (about 840 votes)⁶

Spoilers

Premise and episodes

The series follows a police force's pursuit of a violent predator whose attacks on women spread fear through Karnataka. Netflix describes it as psychological, dark, true crime, and a limited series, and lists it among Kannada-language and historical documentaries.¹

The three episodes are titled for the years they cover:¹

1996 (42 minutes). Fear spreads through Chitradurga when a young woman is murdered amid a series of assaults, and a frantic investigation leads to an unexpected suspect.
1997 (50 minutes). In Bangalore, Umesh Reddy continues his lawless streak; police are stumped by unusual findings and a bold escape.
1998 (51 minutes). As Reddy preys on women and media sensationalism peaks, the series asks what it will take to catch him and for justice to prevail.

TV Guide's fuller episode summaries add that the first episode involves the murder of a teenager and the transfer of a top cop during the investigation, that the second suggests Reddy may be part of a larger group, and that the third centers on a grizzly murder with an unlikely eyewitness.⁷

Production

Ashwin Rai Shetty directed and wrote the series and also served as an executive producer alongside Vatsala Aron, Samira Kanwar, and Niharika Kotwal; Apoorva Jaiswal was producer and Srusti Jain series producer.² The credited on-screen participants include Raj Kumar Singh appearing as Umesh Reddy, the journalist Manjunatha S, and H. Anjaneya, a retired deputy superintendent of police.⁸ Post-production credits connect the series to Vice India and Vice APAC, and adaptations were prepared in Hindi, French, and German for international versions.²

Netflix lists Kannada as the original audio, with dubs and audio description in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu, and subtitles in English and Kannada.¹ Rotten Tomatoes lists the original language as Hindi.⁴

Reception and context

The series holds a 6.2/10 rating on IMDb based on roughly 840 user votes, and JustWatch records it spending 85 days in the Top 1000 of its daily streaming charts, peaking at number 21.⁶ Critical coverage was sparse; the one review aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes, from Amanda Guarragi of Ready Steady Cut, rated the season 1.5/5 and argued that putting men front and center in a documentary series addressing violence against women is counterproductive.⁹

The series belongs to Netflix's Indian Predator franchise of true-crime documentaries, alongside The Butcher of Delhi (2022), The Diary of a Serial Killer (2022), and Murder in a Courtroom; TVmaze lists The Butcher of Delhi as its franchise relation.³^•¹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026