Doctor Death, fugitive serial killer who fed victims to crocodiles, arrested from Rajasthan

Delhi Police have apprehended Devender Sharma, a 67-year-old convicted serial killer infamously known as ‘Doctor Death,’ in Rajasthan’s Dausa district. Sharma, who had been on the run since jumping parole in August 2023, was arrested on Monday while posing as a priest under a false identity at an ashram.

Sharma, an Ayurvedic practitioner, gained notoriety for his gruesome crimes, including the murder of numerous taxi and truck drivers between 2002 and 2004. According to police, he and his accomplices lured drivers on fake trips, killed them, and disposed of their bodies in the crocodile-infested Hazara Canal in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj district to eliminate evidence. The vehicles were then sold in the grey market. Authorities suspect Sharma’s involvement in at least 27 cases of murder, kidnapping, and robbery, with estimates suggesting he may be responsible for over 50 killings.

Before his murder spree, Sharma was implicated in an illegal kidney transplant racket from 1995 to 2004, facilitating over 125 transplants across Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan. Arrested in 2004, he was convicted in seven murder cases across these states, receiving life imprisonment for each and a death sentence in one case from a Gurugram court.

Sharma’s criminal history includes multiple parole violations. Granted a 20-day parole in January 2020, he remained at large for seven months before being recaptured in Delhi. In June 2023, he was granted parole again in a case registered at Sarita Vihar police station but absconded after August 3, 2023. Delhi Police’s Crime Branch tracked him down after a six-month investigation, locating him in Dausa, where he had been living under a false identity.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam confirmed Sharma’s arrest, noting his long criminal record and the meticulous efforts to apprehend him. Sharma, originally from Aligarh, practiced medicine at Janta Clinic in Bandikui, Rajasthan, for 11 years before turning to crime.