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| “ | How does that feel? Tell me it feels good. | „ |
| ~ Chanoor as he attacks one of his victims. |
Henry Chanoor is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Outsider". He is a serial rapist and murderer whose crimes are motivated by a desire to be a "celebrity" criminal.
He was portrayed by Kal Penn.
Early life[]
Henry is the youngest child and only son of Dr. Rankesh Chanoor, a wealthy, successful gynecologist, and his wife Geeta. His older sisters Nida and Debi were straight A students in high school and college and went on to have successful careers as a doctor and a lawyer, respectively, but he was an underachiever who flunked out of college and could only get a job as a janitor at his father's clinic. While his mother and sisters doted on him, his father saw him as a failure and treated him with disdain when he took notice of him at all.
His father's emotional abuse created in Henry a profound insecurity that he covered up with an all-consuming need to be noticed and appreciated, and a resentment of people - especially women - who had the wealth and status he craved. He also had sadistic sexual tastes, so he decided to combine the two by becoming a notorious, "celebrity" rapist.
He began attacking his father's wealthy patients, ordering them to tell him how much they liked what he was doing to them while he choked and raped them. He did not intend to kill his first victims, but he was nevertheless excited by the power he felt while taking their lives. By the time of the episode, Henry had raped and murdered three women in Brooklyn.
"Outsider"[]
Henry stalks and rapes college student Ming Hao in Manhattan, telling her that she is better looking than her younger sister while assaulting her. Ming's friend Ken Randall calls his father, Detective Fin Tutuola of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit, who makes her assault a high priority for his precinct. After connecting Hao's rape to the rape/murders in Brooklyn, Tutuola partners with Detective Chester Lake of Brooklyn SVU, who had been investigating the murders.
Henry rapes Kara Bawson and Edie Rimpo, who are also his father's patients, within two days. Tutuola and Lake look into the clinic itself and find out that Dr. Chanoor is known for sexually harassing his patients, which makes him a suspect. They bring him in for a lineup, but none of the victims identify him as their rapist. When Henry arrives at the station to drive his father home, however, they all accuse him of raping them.
While interrogating Henry, Tutuola and Lake play to his fragile ego, praising him for staying a step ahead of the police for so long. Henry starts bragging about his intellect and sexual prowess, and gets so caught up in showing off that he inadvertently reveals information about the rapes and murders that only the culprit could know. He is then charged with multiple counts of rape and murder, with Debi representing him in court. She gets him released on bail, and his mother helps him flee the city.
Henry stows away on a carrier ship heading out of the country, but he cannot resist calling a radio station to brag about outwitting the police. Lake hears the broadcast and recognizes the location from the background noise, having walked by the area during a bout of insomnia. He and Tutuola board the ship and find Henry, who takes a young boy hostage at knifepoint. Lake manages to distract Henry by telling him that he would receive more media attention for attacking a police officer, convincing him to let the boy go. As Henry prepares to attack Lake, however, Tutuola shoots him in the arm, knocking him to the ground. As the detectives take him into custody, Henry sees a mob of reporters rushing to cover his arrest, and rejoices that, between the arrest and the trial, he is finally going to be famous.
He is then imprisoned for life for rape and murder.
External links[]
- Henry Chanoor on the Law & Order Wiki
