Latest news with #DoctorDeath
News.com.au
25-05-2025
- News.com.au
Forensic pathologist reveals the absolute worst ways to die
WARNING: GRAPHIC Roger Byard – whose colleagues refer to him as 'Doctor Death' – has investigated some of the most traumatic deaths in Australia. He's also investigated some of the strangest. The forensic pathologist told the latest episode of Gary Jubelin's I Catch Killers podcast about his baptism of fire into the profession, being called out to investigate the infamous 'bodies in barrels' Snowtown murders on his first week on call. 'I was called by the head of Major Crime one night … and I was so green,' he explained. 'I didn't realise that when the head of Major Crime calls you, it's pretty serious.' The Snowtown murders were a series of murders committed by John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner, and James Spyridon Vlassakis between August 1992 and May 1999, in and around Adelaide. A fourth person, Mark Haydon, was convicted of helping to dispose of the bodies. The trial was one of the longest and most publicised in Australian legal history, with Byard's forensic evidence contributing to the convictions. But while Snowtown may have been one of the most publicised cases Byard has worked on, it wasn't the most bizarre. 'I've been collecting animal deaths,' he told Jubelin. 'Deaths from dogs, snakes, sharks, roosters, mackerel.' You read that right. Mackerel. 'There was a bloke fishing in the Darwin Harbour and sharks were nearby, so this 25 kilogram mackerel jumped out of the water and sideswiped him,' he recalled. 'Wrong place, wrong time,' he continued. But what about the rooster? 'There was a little old lady out the back collecting eggs,' he explains. 'Roosters, I understand, are nasty creatures. It went for her, and she had varicose veins and it just pecked her leg.' Byard explains that he's had a number of deaths come across his desk where people with varicose veins have experienced minor trauma and ended up dying. 'One case was a cat scratch,' he said. 'People don't realise, and this is the reason that I actually publicise this stuff, it's not because it's bizarre and weird, it's to let people know that if you got varicose veins and you get a small hole, you need to lie down and put your finger over it and elevate it and you'll survive. What [people] tend to do is wander around panicking and they bleed to death – completely unnecessary deaths.' 'But yeah,' adds Byard, 'never trust a rooster.' And while the stranger elements of Byard's job might be headline-making, there's a darker trauma that lingers. 'Nobody talks about post-traumatic stress with forensic pathologists, and yet every month of every year we go out to scenes,' he explained sadly. 'We see dismembered bodies, incinerated bodies. We see children that are being starved to death, vehicle accidents, dreadful scenes. And we have to not only immerse ourselves in it, we have to then describe it in great detail, understand it, then we have to present it to a jury and sometimes have our credibility attacked while we're doing it.' He explained that while his trauma has built up with each case he's worked, so too has his understanding that he isn't always going to find the answers. 'When I first started, I thought I was gonna find the causes of all these deaths – I was gung-ho,' he said. 'And then as I got further and further into my career, I realised that, no, I'm not going to find answers all the time. And I'm going to have to sit down with families and say, 'I have no idea'. All I can say to them is, 'it was nothing that you did'. ' And also, a lot of the time they just want to meet the person that looked after their baby between the time when they saw the baby last, and when they saw their baby at the funeral home.'
New Indian Express
21-05-2025
- New Indian Express
Serial killer, who fed victims to crocs, held after jumping parole at ashram in Rajasthan
NEW DELHI: Ayurveda practitioner-turned-serial killer – the infamous Doctor Death, who fed his victims to crocodiles – was arrested by Delhi Police after he jumped parole last year, a senior official absconder was posing as a priest under a false identity at an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa when he was arrested on Monday, he added. 67-year-old Devender Sharma was convicted in multiple murder cases. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in seven separate cases across Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, and a Gurgaon court even awarded him capital punishment. DCP (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam said Sharma had been serving life sentence in Tihar Jail for the brutal killings of several taxi and truck drivers between 2002 and 2004, when he jumped parole in August 2023.
Indian Express
21-05-2025
- Indian Express
‘Dr Death' arrested: Convicted serial killer, who dumped bodies in crocodile-infested canal', traced to Rajasthan
A serial killer, known on police files as 'Doctor Death', was arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch from Rajasthan on Monday evening — over a year after he jumped parole and absconded in August 2023. Police said Dr Devender Sharma, convicted in multiple murder cases and allegedly behind 50 gruesome killings, remained elusive for over a year and a half before he was finally caught — hiding in plain sight as a priest in an ashram — in Dausa. This was the second time he had attempted to escape. Sharma, a 67-year-old Ayurvedic doctor from Aligarh, was sentenced to life in seven cases of kidnapping and murdering taxi drivers between 2002 and 2004. In 2023, he was serving his sentence in Tihar Jail when he was granted parole and vanished. Before his arrest, Sharma practiced medicine at the Janta Clinic in Bandikui in Rajasthan for 11 years. In 1994, he was scammed of Rs 11 lakh — his entire life savings — after he attempted to open a gas dealership, said police. Police said Sharma returned home to Aligarh, where he operated a fake gas agency. He began targeting truck drivers — killing them to steal gas cylinders they were transporting from different suppliers to Aligarh, said police. The bodies would be disposed of in rivers. Between 1998 and 2004, police said he became involved in an illegal kidney transplant racket, facilitating more than 125 transplants across Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan with the help of another doctor and other middlemen. He admitted to earning Rs 5 to 7 lakh per transplant as an intermediary who arranged kidney donors, said police. Between 2002 and 2004, police said Sharma — who had a gang by now — was responsible for the abduction and murder of numerous taxi drivers. His modus operandi, police said, involved hiring taxis from Delhi. He then killed the driver and dumped the body in the crocodile-infested Hazra Canal in Kasganj. The stolen taxis were then sold in the grey market for Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 each. Sharma was arrested and charged with the murders of 21 taxi drivers, although he later admitted to killing more than 50 people, said police. As the police could never recover the bodies of the victims, Sharma would be given life imprisonment for the murders of only seven victims. According to the police, his wife and children abandoned him after his crimes were revealed. In January 2020, Sharma was released from Jaipur Central jail on parole based on good behaviour. He never returned. A few months later, while gathering information on 'wanted criminals in the area', a Delhi Police Inspector got information that Sharma was living in Baprola with his second wife. He had started a property dealership but was soon caught trying to sell a disputed building in Connaught Place. He was arrested and put in Tihar Jail this time. Once again, Sharma was granted parole for two months; he escaped in June 2023. DCP (Crime) Aditya Gautam said, 'A police team conducted discreet inquiries in Aligarh, Jaipur, and Delhi. They worked relentlessly and patiently, gathering information for six months across all possible hiding places — including Jaipur, Delhi, Aligarh, Agra, and Prayagraj. Their efforts led to the successful location of the convict in Dausa in Rajasthan, where he was hiding in an ashram, posing as a priest. The team camped there and met the accused, pretending to be a follower, and kept a watch to make sure that he was indeed Dr Devender. Upon apprehension, the accused admitted to his criminal past and said he had jumped parole, intending to never return to jail.' Sharma is involved in 27 cases, including murder, kidnapping, and robbery. The fugitive has now been handed over to jail authorities for further legal proceedings, said police.
India Today
20-05-2025
- India Today
Doctor-turned-serial killer, who fed victims to crocodiles, arrested in Rajasthan
A notorious Ayurvedic practitioner-turned-serial killer -- infamous as Doctor Death for feeding his victims to crocodiles -- was arrested by Delhi Police after he jumped parole last year, a senior official said on criminal was posing as a priest under a false identity at an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa when he was arrested on Monday, he official said 67-year-old Devender Sharma was convicted in multiple murder was sentenced to life imprisonment in seven separate cases across Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, and a Gurgaon court has even awarded him the capital Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam said Sharma had been serving life sentence in Tihar Jail for the brutal killings of several taxi and truck drivers between 2002 and 2004, when he jumped parole in August 2023."Sharma and his accomplices used to call drivers on fake trips, murder them and sell their vehicles in the grey market," DCP Gautam said. The bodies were then thrown into the crocodile-infested waters of Hazara Canal at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh to erase all officer said Sharma has a long criminal history involving at least 27 cases of murder, kidnapping and first gained notoriety for running an illicit kidney transplant racket between 1995 and 2004. Sharma, a BAMS (bachelor of ayurvedic medicine and surgery) degree holder, had opened a clinic in Rajasthan in 1984. He confessed to police about facilitating more than 125 illegal transplants with the help of doctors and middlemen operating across several turned to crime after incurring heavy financial losses in a failed gas dealership deal. In 1994, he had invested Rs 11 lakh in a company to obtain the dealership. A year later, he floated a fake gas agency and also entered the illegal organ 1995 and 2004, he formed a gang that allegedly intercepted trucks carrying LPG cylinders, killed the drivers and stole the consignments. He also carried out targeted killings of taxi drivers. The modus operandi involved hiring taxis, murdering the drivers, and selling their vehicles in the grey market. The bodies were fed to crocodiles."His gang used to dismantle trucks and sell them in the markets," said a police this period, Sharma is suspected to have murdered over two dozen people. He was also part of a racket and allegedly charged Rs 7 lakh per case, they 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, and even received the death penalty from a Gurgaon court in one case. Police believe he was responsible for over 50 murders," said the his time as a fugitive, Sharma was living in disguise as a priest at an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa."Sharma had jumped parole in August 2023 while serving his sentence at Tihar Jail and had been on the run since. Crime branch was tasked to search for him. Following a six-month-long operation spanning several cities including Aligarh, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra and Prayagraj, the team tracked him to an ashram in Dausa, where he was posing as a spiritual man under a false identity," said the is not the first time Sharma has absconded while on parole. He was granted a 20-day parole on January 28, 2020, but he was at large for seven months before the crime branch arrested him from Delhi in July. In June 2023, Sharma was granted parole again for two months in a case registered at Sarita Vihar police station, but he disappeared after August 3, Watch
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Time of India
Doctor Death, fugitive serial killer who fed victims to crocodiles, arrested from Rajasthan
A notorious Ayurvedic practitioner-turned-serial killer -- infamous as Doctor Death for feeding his victims to crocodiles -- was arrested by Delhi Police after he jumped parole last year, a senior official said on Tuesday. The criminal was posing as a priest under a false identity at an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa when he was arrested on Monday, he said. The official said 67-year-old Devender Sharma was convicted in multiple murder cases . He was sentenced to life imprisonment in seven separate cases across Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, and a Gurgaon court has even awarded him the capital punishment. Police suspect his involvement in over 50 murder cases. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Aditya Gautam said Sharma had been serving life sentence in Tihar Jail for the brutal killings of several taxi and truck drivers between 2002 and 2004, when he jumped parole in August 2023. "Sharma and his accomplices used to call drivers on fake trips, murder them and sell their vehicles in the grey market," DCP Gautam said. The bodies were then thrown into the crocodile-infested waters of Hazara Canal at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh to erase all evidence. Live Events The officer said Sharma has a long criminal history involving at least 27 cases of murder, kidnapping and robbery. He first gained notoriety for running an illicit kidney transplant racket between 1995 and 2004. Sharma, a BAMS (bachelor of ayurvedic medicine and surgery) degree holder, had opened a clinic in Rajasthan in 1984. He confessed to police about facilitating more than 125 illegal transplants with the help of doctors and middlemen operating across several states. Sharma turned to crime after incurring heavy financial losses in a failed gas dealership deal. In 1994, he had invested Rs 11 lakh in a company to obtain the dealership. A year later, he floated a fake gas agency and also entered the illegal organ trade. Between 1995 and 2004, he formed a gang that allegedly intercepted trucks carrying LPG cylinders, killed the drivers and stole the consignments. He also carried out targeted killings of taxi drivers. The modus operandi involved hiring taxis, murdering the drivers, and selling their vehicles in the grey market. The bodies were fed to crocodiles. "His gang used to dismantle trucks and sell them in the markets," said a police source. In this period, Sharma is suspected to have murdered over two dozen people. He was also part of a racket and allegedly charged Rs 7 lakh per case, they said. 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, and even received the death penalty from a Gurgaon court in one case. Police believe he was responsible for over 50 murders," said the officer. During his time as a fugitive, Sharma was living in disguise as a priest at an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa. "Sharma had jumped parole in August 2023 while serving his sentence at Tihar Jail and had been on the run since. Crime branch was tasked to search for him. Following a six-month-long operation spanning several cities including Aligarh, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra and Prayagraj, the team tracked him to an ashram in Dausa, where he was posing as a spiritual man under a false identity," said the DCP. This is not the first time Sharma has absconded while on parole. He was granted a 20-day parole on January 28, 2020, but he was at large for seven months before the crime branch arrested him from Delhi in July. In June 2023, Sharma was granted parole again for two months in a case registered at Sarita Vihar police station, but he disappeared after August 3, 2023. Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
