Thug Behram ( 1765 – 1840), also known as Bereham Thug and the King of the Thugs, was a leader of the Thuggee cult active in northern central India during the late 18th and early 19th century, and is often cited as one of the world's most prolific serial killers. He may have been involved in up to 931 murders by strangulation between 1790–1840 performed with a ceremonial rumāl, a handkerchief-like cloth used by his cult as a garrote. Holds his name in Guinness Book of World Records for maximum number of murders