‘Doctor Death’: Serial killer who fed victims to crocodiles arrested again, was granted parole in 2023 despite violating and absconding in 2020
On 20th May, Delhi Police’s Crime Branch arrested serial killer Devendra Kumar Sharma, infamously known as Doctor Death, from an ashram in Rajasthan’s Dausa district. Sharma, who has been accused of killing over 100 men, primarily taxi drivers, used to dump the bodies of his victims into crocodile-infested canals. He was also accused of running an illegal kidney transplant racket. When Delhi Police arrested him, he was living under a false identity, dressed as a spiritual guru. The arrest concluded an almost year-long manhunt that spanned cities including Delhi, Aligarh, Jaipur, Agra, and Prayagraj.
Sharma, once a certified Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), became the infamous ‘Doctor Death’ after it was revealed that he murdered dozens of taxi drivers and threw their bodies for crocodiles to feast on. After years of legal battles, which are still going on, he has been, so far, sentenced to life in seven different murder cases and received the death penalty in one. His criminal saga has another grotesque turn, absconding under parole, twice. The recent arrest of Sharma is the second time of jumping parole.
Sharma’s arrest was publicly confirmed on Tuesday by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam.
From failed gas agency to blood-soaked crimes
67-year-old Sharma hails from Pureni village in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He completed his Ayurvedic studies in Bihar in 1984, following which he set up a small clinic in Dausa, Rajasthan under the name of ‘Janata Clinic’ and practised medicine for over a decade. During that period, he lost ₹11 lakh, leading to a financial debacle after he became a victim of a gas dealership fraud. Being a victim reportedly changed his life.
By 1995, Sharma had turned to crime. He was also accused of running a gruesome kidney transplant racket. Between 1998 and 2004, he collaborated with a doctor named Amit to conduct more than 125 illegal kidney transplants, mainly exploiting poor individuals from Bihar, Bengal, and Nepal. Reportedly, he lured them in with promises of cash. However, for Sharma, it was not enough.
A murderous modus operandi
Around the late 1990s, Sharma formed a gang and evolved into a full-fledged serial killer. His modus operandi can send chills down the spine. He and his associates would pose as passengers and hire taxis for outstation trips. Once en route or at the destination, they would direct the unsuspecting driver to a secluded area where he would be brutally beaten to death. The vehicle would then be sold in the grey market, while the victim’s body would be dumped into the Hazara Canal in Kasganj, a waterway infested with crocodiles. The canal became the dumping ground as the crocodiles would erase, or eat, all the evidence.
By his confession to the police, he stopped counting after 50 murders. The total toll, according to the investigators, could be well over 100. One senior officer remarked, “He enjoyed the bloodshed,” explaining the remorseless nature of the crimes he had committed.
Arrested, sentenced… and released on parole
Sharma was first arrested in 2004 for his role in the kidney racket and the serial killings. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in seven different murder cases across Delhi, Rajasthan, and Haryana. In 2008, a Gurugram court sentenced him to death for the brutal murder of a taxi driver named Naresh Verma. In another case, he was awarded the death sentence for the murder of taxi driver Kamal Singh, who was killed in 2002. Despite such a horrific criminal record, Sharma was granted parole not once, but twice.
In 2020, he was released on a 20-day parole but failed to return. He remained on the run for seven months before being tracked down in Delhi. Not learning from the past experience, in June 2023, authorities granted him another two-month parole in a separate case registered at Sarita Vihar police station. He was scheduled to surrender on 3rd August 2023, but once again, he vanished.
A manhunt across states, a fugitive disguised as baba
After Sharma went underground for the second time, Delhi Police’s Crime Branch launched an elaborate manhunt. Teams were dispatched to Aligarh, Jaipur, Agra, Delhi, and Prayagraj to trace his movements. After six months of combing records, talking to contacts, and monitoring suspicious locations, police finally received a lead that pointed them to Dausa, Rajasthan.
Sharma was found living under a new identity. He had turned into a “spiritual guru”, drawing no suspicion from the locals. After confirming his identity, the police arrested him and brought him back to Delhi. This was the second time in just three years that the police had to spend months locating and arresting a man who had already been convicted of multiple murders and awarded the death penalty.
Acquitted in two cases over lack of admissible evidence
While Sharma remains convicted in several murders, he has also managed to walk free in two separate high-profile cases owing to technical lapses and lack of conclusive evidence.
In the 2012 judgment related to the murder of Kamal Singh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Sharma, ruling that there was no dead body, no forensic link, and no conclusive circumstantial chain. The case rested heavily on disclosure statements and recoveries, which the Court found unreliable and contradicted by the brother of the deceased, who had turned hostile.
In another 2012 case involving the murder of Bhagirath alias Lala, the same court found that the vehicle recovered could not be linked to the original stolen vehicle. No independent witnesses were present during the alleged recovery of the deceased’s personal items. Again, the Court ruled that circumstantial evidence did not form a complete chain, and acquitted Sharma and two others.
Both judgements serve as a grim reminder of how India’s legal system, when burdened by investigative lapses and uncorroborated statements, can fail to uphold even the most straightforward cases against a known serial killer.
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