The Delhi Police have arrested Devender Sharma, infamously known as "Doctor Death," from an ashram in Dausa, Rajasthan. The 67-year-old Ayurvedic practitioner-turned-serial killer had been on the run since jumping parole in August 2023. Sharma was serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail for the brutal killings of numerous taxi and truck drivers between 2002 and 2004.
Sharma's criminal history extends beyond serial killings. He was also convicted in connection with a high-profile illegal kidney transplant racket, where he facilitated over 125 transplants between 1995 and 2004. Facing multiple life sentences for his involvement in at least 27 cases of murder, kidnapping, and robbery, Sharma's capture brings an end to a lengthy pursuit.
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police launched a dedicated operation to track him down. The search spanned across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Acting on gathered intelligence, the team located Sharma at an ashram in Dausa, where he was living under a false identity and posing as a priest.
This isn't the first time Sharma has absconded while on parole. In 2020, he failed to return after a 20-day parole and remained at large for seven months before being re-arrested in Delhi. He was granted parole again in June 2023 for two months in connection to a 2004 murder case, but he disappeared after August 3, 2023, prompting the latest search.
Sharma and his accomplices would lure drivers with fake trip requests, murder them, and sell their vehicles in the grey market. To eliminate evidence, the bodies were disposed of in the crocodile-infested Hazara Canal in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj. It is believed he may be responsible for over 50 murders. During police questioning, Sharma confessed that he lost count after 50 murders, making it difficult for him to recall the exact number of killings.
Sharma, a BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) degree holder, initially opened a clinic in Rajasthan in 1984. He later confessed to facilitating more than 125 illegal kidney transplants with the help of doctors and middlemen operating across several states. He ventured into crime after incurring significant financial losses in a failed gas dealership deal. In 1994, he invested a substantial amount in a company to obtain the dealership. A year later, he started a fake gas agency and entered the illegal organ trade. Between 1995 and 2004, he formed a gang that intercepted trucks carrying LPG cylinders.
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. A Gurgaon court even awarded him the capital punishment in one case.
