Key associate of 'Dr Death' held in UP's Aligarh after 21 years

Hindustan Times

8 hours ago

New Delhi, A key associate of notorious serial killer Devender Sharma alias 'Dr Death' has been arrested by Delhi Police from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh after remaining on the run for 21 years, an official on Sunday said.
The accused, identified as Rajender alias Rajua , is a resident of Kasimpur in Aligarh and a proclaimed offender, he said.
The official said that Rajender was apprehended on June 14 by a team of Crime Branch.
"He was wanted in a 2004 case of murder, kidnapping, causing disappearance of evidence, criminal conspiracy and common intention at Sarita Vihar Police Station," the police officer said.
"A court had declared Rajender a proclaimed offender in the case, but he had managed to evade arrest for over two decades," the officer added.
Rajender was a close accomplice of Devender Sharma alias Dr Death, who was arrested from Rajasthan's Dausa earlier on May 19, police said.
Sharma, a notorious serial killer and Ayurveda practitioner, infamously dubbed "Doctor Death" was arrested by Delhi Police after jumping parole last year.
Convicted in multiple murder cases, Sharma was known for dumping the bodies of his victims in the crocodile-infested Hazara Canal in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in seven separate murder cases across Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, and even received the capital punishment in one case by a Gurugram court.
The police believe that he was responsible for over 50 murders.
Sharma, a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery degree holder, had been serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail for the brutal killings of many taxi and truck drivers between 2002 and 2004.
He absconded in 2023 after being granted parole and was on the run since then.
Sharma and his accomplices would lure the drivers with fake trip requests, murder them and sell their vehicles in the grey market.
The bodies were then thrown into the Hazara Canal, known for its crocodile population, to erase all evidence.
Sharma also ran an illicit kidney transplant racket in 1990 and early 2000. He confessed to facilitating more than 125 illegal transplants with the help of doctors and brokers, police said.
Sharma disclosed during his interrogation that Rajender, a key operative of their crime syndicate active in early 2000, was still absconding, they said.
Based on the inputs, a police team began tracking Rajender across multiple cities, including Aligarh, Jaipur and Delhi.
After days of surveillance and tip-off, the accused was finally traced to a remote area of Kasimpur, where he had been living in an isolated room and working as a security guard at a local pump house under a false identity.
"Rajender was involved in multiple killings, primarily of truck and taxi drivers, along with Sharma and other gang members," said the police officer.
Rajender revealed during his interrogation that he had joined Sharma's gang in 2003 after a personal dispute, police said.
He was arrested in a murder case in Jaipur in 2007 under a false name and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 14 years in prison without disclosing his true identity or involvement in other cases, they said.
After being released on bail in 2021, he continued to live under the radar in Aligarh, evading law. Rajender has a criminal history spanning 12 cases, including charges of murder, kidnapping and robbery, the officer said.
He is also wanted in four more murder cases in Delhi and Gurugram in which he had never been arrested, he added.
"All concerned police stations have been informed about his arrest and further legal proceedings are underway, the officer said.