Psycho killer poisons 8 men in Chhattisgarh, attends funerals
A gruesome serial murder spree orchestrated by a “psycho killer” gripped a village in Chhattisgarh’s Balodabazar district, where a shopkeeper allegedly used lethal doses of borax powder to poison eight men over a period of four months, police said on Tuesday.
The 46-year-old accused, Ram Sahay Jaiswal, evaded suspicion for months by helping grieving families and even attending the funerals of his victims, police said.
He was arrested on Tuesday following two weeks of investigation and over a month after he killed his last victim.
The chilling murders took place between February and May this year in Kharve village under Kasdol police station limits, officials said.
According to police, Jaiswal, said to be a “psycho killer”, carried out the murders driven by feelings of revenge, mental frustration and long-standing grudges against the victims over minor disputes.
While the deaths had initially been treated as natural or due to some illness, villagers and relatives of the deceased approached police earlier this month, expressing suspicion about Jaiswal’s possible involvement, they said.
Given the seriousness of the allegations, police launched a detailed probe, exhuming the body of Jaiswal’s last victim, Mahetaru Sahu, who died on May 14, on June 13, Balodabazar-Bhatapara Superintendent of Police (in-charge) OP Sharma said. He said that subsequently, six more bodies were exhumed and sent to Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital (Mekahara) in Raipur for post-mortem examinations, while the remains of one Budhram Jaiswal could not be recovered as he had been cremated.
A special medico-legal team conducted the autopsies and preserved DNA samples, viscera and other forensic evidence for laboratory analysis, Sharma said.
Police formed multiple teams to investigate the deaths, questioning villagers and monitoring developments on the ground, gathering technical and forensic evidence, he said.
Investigations revealed that the accused had taken ‘suhaga’ (borax powder) from a villager, claiming that he had needed to kill rats, he said. During questioning, Jaiswal initially denied any role, but eventually confessed that he targeted the victims one after another over old disputes, verbal altercations, allegations of witchcraft and other personal grievances, the senior official said.
