Ayurvedic doctor turned serial killer Dr. Devendra Sharma, popularly known as 'Doctor Death', has been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police from Rajasthan's Dausa district. This arrest took place when he was staying in an ashram as a 'priest' with a fake identity card.

67-year-old Sharma came out of Tihar Jail on parole in August 2023 last year and was absconding since then. Delhi Police informed about his arrest on Monday. 

After coming out of jail on parole and becoming a saint again, the police caught him from the ashram

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch of Delhi Police Aditya Gautam said that Sharma was arrested under a special operation. The police had been looking for him for a long time and finally after six months of investigation and surveillance, his location was discovered. He was living in a remote hermitage in Dausa, claiming to be a spiritual guru, where he used to give prayers and sermons to the devotees.

Gautam said, "We launched a search operation in several cities including Aligarh, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra and Prayagraj. His identity was finally established through forged documents."

Horrible pattern of killings: dead bodies were fed to crocodiles 

Devendra Sharma was serving a life sentence for the murders committed between 2002 and 2004. According to the police, he and his accomplices called taxi and truck drivers on the pretext of fake bookings, killed them and dumped the bodies in a crocodile-infested canal in UP's Kasganj, so that no evidence remained.

Sharma is said to have killed at least 50 people, although some reports put the number at over 100.

Kidney smuggling racket 'Doctor Death'

Sharma's criminal career began in the 1990s with an illegal kidney transplant racket. A BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) degree holder, Sharma started his clinic in Rajasthan in 1984.

From 1995 to 2004, he ran an organized racket in which he conducted more than 125 illegal kidney transplants with the help of brokers and doctors active in different states of the country. He used to extract the organs of the poor by persuasion or force and sold them to the rich patients at a high price.

Apart from the charges of truck robbery, cylinder theft and running a gang , Sharma is also accused of robbing trucks carrying LPG cylinders, killing the drivers and selling the goods in the black market. According to police sources, he used to charge up to seven lakh rupees for each murder or truck robbery. Police said that Sharma is accused in at least 27 criminal cases, including murder, kidnapping, robbery and smuggling.

Absconding habit: Has broken parole before 

This is not the first time that Sharma has absconded after parole. He was also granted parole for 20 days in January 2020, but he remained missing for seven months. In July 2020, he was again arrested from Delhi. Now again the same history was repeated, but this time he tried to hide himself once again as a criminal who was skilled in deception and disguise by wearing a spiritual garb.

Current situation and further action

Dr. Devendra Sharma has now been brought to Delhi and the hearing of cases filed against him in various courts will resume. With his arrest, police hope he can provide more information about unsolved murders and trafficking networks.

PC:Punjab Kesari