For four months, a killer moved freely through a village in Chhattisgarh's Balodabazar district without drawing a shred of suspicion. The eight mysterious deaths in Kharv village, under the Kasdol police station limits, turned out to be the work of a local man who was lacing liquor with poison to kill people he knew. Police have arrested the alleged psycho killer and booked him on eight counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
The poison was first tested on a dog
During questioning, the accused admitted that before he ever targeted a person, he tried the poison on a dog to see how lethal it was. Once the dog died and he was convinced his method worked, he started going after humans. Mental frustration, a thirst for revenge and long-standing grudges drove him to pick off, one by one, the people he had fallen out with.
A cunning cover to avoid suspicion
What made him so dangerous was his cunning. After administering the poison, he would personally rush the victim to hospital for treatment, and once they died he took an active part in the burial and last rites. That show of concern is why, for a long time, no one in the village had any reason to point a finger at him.
Four months, eight deaths
Given the gravity of the case, a Special Investigation Team was set up by SP OP Sharma under the monitoring of IG Amresh Mishra, and it pieced the entire conspiracy together link by link. The probe found that every death concealed some personal grudge.
The chain began on 6 February 2026, when the accused, in a dispute over abusive language, made Badri drink poisoned liquor; he died at the Kasdol hospital. On 20 February, Butalu was poisoned to death over abuse of the community and an old electoral feud. On 12 March, Chhutram was killed because the accused suspected he had an eye on his wife.
On 20 March, Budhram was murdered over a land transaction and a social grudge. On 31 March, Vinod Kumar was given poisoned liquor following an abusive quarrel. On 28 April, Gajanand was killed on the suspicion that he practised witchcraft. The very next day, 29 April, the accused killed Chaituram to wriggle out of a loan of 50,000 rupees and its interest. On 14 May, angered by an electoral dispute and taunts, he poisoned Mahterram as well.
One survivor who cracked the case
Amid this terrifying run, on 14 April 2026 a villager named Kartik survived only because he received treatment in time. That turned out to be the first clue police got. The investigation also revealed that every victim had been sitting and drinking with the accused right before he died. When police interrogated him hard, the accused broke down and confessed to his crime.
Seven bodies pulled from their graves
Acting on the confession, police exhumed seven bodies and sent them to Raipur for postmortem. The eighth victim had already been cremated by his family, so that body could not be recovered.
