Devender Sharma turned to a life of crime after he lost Rs. 1.1m (£11,188) in a failed business. With the help of various associates, he murdered truck and cab drivers to steal their vehicles in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, India. He also had an illegal cooking gas cylinder business and later assisted a notorious doctor in his organ harvesting racket. Even though Sharma admitted to the murder of over 100 people, his method of feeding the bodies to crocodiles left little evidence against him. Sharma went into hiding after breaching parole this year before his re-arrest.

After becoming an Ayurvedic medical sciences degree holder in 1984, Sharma opened a clinic in Bandikui, Rajasthan. In 1994, he wanted to branch out into other businesses. He invested Rs. 1.1m (£11,188) to start a cooking gas cylinder dealership. However, the collapse of Bharat Fuel made him lose all the money he had invested.

To improve his financial condition, Sharma decided to open a fraudulent gas agency in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He illegally sourced the gas from Lucknow before forming a gang with three men named Raj, Udaiveer and Vedveer. With the help of the gang, Sharma intercepted trucks carrying gas cylinders. Killing the drivers, the men sold the cylinders as well as the parts of the dismantled trucks. They got rid of their victims' bodies by throwing them into rivers.

When the police arrested Sharma, they only had evidence enough to charge him for his illegal gas agency. He was not charged for the murders.

According to the Times of India, the hardened criminal returned to his murderous ways after release. The gang resumed their murder spree, this time targeting cab drivers in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. They killed the drivers and tampered with the vehicles before selling them off. The bodies of the victims were dropped into the Hazra Canal, where crocodiles consumed them leaving behind no trace.

Man eaten by crocodiles in Philippines
Gang disposed of bodies of their victim by feeding them to crocodiles. (representational image)

While committing murders, Sharma continued to keep his clinic functional to have an alibi ready.

Between 1995 and 2004, Sharma assisted Amit Kumar in illegally selling kidneys. Kumar was a part of an international kidney transplant racket. Sharma was charged with being involved in 125 illegal kidney transplants.

When he was arrested in 2004, the police charged him with seven of the more than 100 murders he initially admitted. Sharma served 16-years at a jail in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The 62-year-old was allowed out on 20-day parole in January this year for good behaviour. When his parole ended on February 16, he informed the police that he would be returning to jail. However, he went into hiding.

Sharma married a widowed woman and tried to assume the identity of a real estate dealer. He tried to illegally sell the long-litigated Marshall House near Connaught Place, Delhi. The misstep allowed the Delhi police crime branch to arrest Sharma. He has been returned to prison after his arrest on July 28.

India