Devender Sharma, infamously known as ‘Doctor Death’, is a convicted serial killer and Ayurvedic practitioner whose name has become synonymous with some of the most gruesome crimes in recent Indian history. Arrested by Delhi Police from an ashram in Rajasthan's Dausa district, Sharma was living under a false identity as a priest after jumping parole in August 2023.

Sharma is a permanent resident of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. His father worked for a pharmaceutical company in Siwan, Bihar. In 1984, Sharma completed his graduation with a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degree from Bihar. After graduation, he established his own clinic named Janta Clinic in Bandikui, Rajasthan, which he operated for 11 years.

In 1994, he suffered a major financial setback after being defrauded of Rs 11 lakh in a gas dealership scam. Following this loss, in 1995, he turned to criminal activities and allegedly started operating a fake gas agency.

Between 1995 and 2004, Sharma facilitated over 125 illegal kidney transplants across several states, working with a network of doctors and middlemen. Around the same time, he and his associates began luring taxi and truck drivers with fake bookings, murdering them, and selling their vehicles in the grey market. To destroy evidence, the bodies were dumped in crocodile-infested canals in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj district.

Police say Sharma is suspected of being involved in at least 27 cases of murder, kidnapping, and robbery, and possibly responsible for over 50 killings. In 2004, he was arrested and later convicted in seven separate murder cases across Delhi, Rajasthan, and Haryana. In one case, a Gurgaon court even awarded him the death penalty.

This is not Sharma’s first escape while on parole. In 2020, he disappeared for seven months after being granted parole, before being re-arrested. His most recent parole, granted in June 2023, ended in August, but Sharma vanished again. After a six-month manhunt, Delhi Police’s Crime Branch finally tracked him down to the ashram in Dausa, where he had been living in disguise as a spiritual leader.