Ayurvedic Doctor-turned-serial killer who dumped bodies in crocodile-infested canals, arrested

Jaipur: An Ayurvedic practitioner-turned-serial killer, infamously known as Doctor Death, was arrested by Delhi Police from Rajasthan's Dausa after absconding while on parole last year, a senior official said on Tuesday. He was convicted in multiple murder cases and was known for disposing of the bodies by feeding them to crocodiles.

The criminal was posing as a priest under a false identity at an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa when he was arrested on Monday, he said.

The official said 67-year-old Devender Sharma was convicted in multiple murder cases.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in seven separate cases across Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, and a Gurgaon court has even awarded him the capital punishment. Police suspect his involvement in over 50 murder cases, news agency PTI reported.

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Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam said Sharma had been serving life sentence in Tihar Jail for the brutal killings of several taxi and truck drivers between 2002 and 2004, when he jumped parole in August 2023.

"Sharma and his accomplices used to call drivers on fake trips, murder them and sell their vehicles in the grey market," DCP Gautam said. The bodies were then thrown into the crocodile-infested waters of Hazara Canal at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh to erase all evidence.

The officer said Sharma has a long criminal history involving at least 27 cases of murder, kidnapping and robbery.

He first gained notoriety for running an illicit kidney transplant racket between 1995 and 2004. Sharma, a BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) degree holder, had opened a clinic in Rajasthan in 1984. He confessed to police about facilitating more than 125 illegal transplants with the help of doctors and middlemen operating across several states, reports PTI.

Sharma turned to crime after incurring heavy financial losses in a failed gas dealership deal. In 1994, he had invested Rs 11 lakh in a company to obtain the dealership. A year later, he floated a fake gas agency and also entered the illegal organ trade. Between 1995 and 2004, he formed a gang that allegedly intercepted trucks carrying LPG cylinders, killed the drivers and stole the consignments. He also carried out targeted killings of taxi drivers.

The modus operandi involved hiring taxis, murdering the drivers, and selling their vehicles in the grey market. The bodies were fed to crocodiles.

"His gang used to dismantle trucks and sell them in the markets," said a police source.

In this period, Sharma is suspected to have murdered over two dozen people. He was also part of a racket and allegedly charged Rs 7 lakh per case, they said.

Sharma was arrested in 2004 in connection with both the kidney racket and the serial killings.

"He was sentenced to life imprisonment in seven separate murder cases across Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, and even received the death penalty from a Gurgaon court in one case. Police believe he was responsible for over 50 murders," said the officer.

During his time as a fugitive, Sharma was living in disguise as a priest at an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa.

"Sharma had jumped parole in August 2023 while serving his sentence at Tihar Jail and had been on the run since. Crime branch was tasked to search for him. Following a six-month-long operation spanning several cities including Aligarh, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra and Prayagraj, the team tracked him to an ashram in Dausa, where he was posing as a spiritual man under a false identity," said the DCP.

This is not the first time Sharma has absconded while on parole. He was granted a 20-day parole on January 28, 2020, but he was at large for seven months before the crime branch arrested him from Delhi in July. In June 2023, Sharma was granted parole again for two months in a case registered at Sarita Vihar police station, but he disappeared after August 3, 2023.

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