For four months, the village of Kharve in Chhattisgarh's Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara district lived in fear as one resident after another died under mysterious circumstances. Now police say the man behind the deaths was a grocery shop owner from the same village. On Tuesday, 46-year-old Ramsahay Jaiswal was arrested in the Kasdol police station area on charges of killing eight people. According to police, the victims were allegedly poisoned in the village between February and May 14 this year.
The case came to light on June 6, when villagers approached the police with a written application stating that eight people had died in suspicious circumstances between February and May 14. The residents pointed their finger directly at Ramsahay Jaiswal. That complaint set the investigation in motion.
Seven bodies exhumed for examination
Police exhumed the bodies of seven of the dead and sent them to Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital in Raipur, where post-mortems were carried out. The DNA, viscera and other samples of the deceased have been preserved for forensic testing. One victim, Budhram Jaiswal, had already been cremated by his family, so his body could not be recovered.
The investigation revealed that the accused had obtained suhaga, a poison, from a man in the village by claiming he needed it as rat poison. Acting on questioning of villagers and technical evidence, police closed in on Ramsahay and began interrogating him.
First tested on a dog, then used on people
According to police, the accused first fed poison to a dog to see how it would work. He then mixed poison into liquor and gave it to Badri, a village resident, on February 6, killing him. That was where the chain of deaths began.
After that, Ramsahay killed Buthalu on February 20, Chhattu Ram on March 12, Budhram on March 20, Vinod Kumar on March 31, Gajanand on April 28, Chaituram on April 29 and Mahetaru Ram on May 14, each in the same way with poisoned liquor. One more person narrowly survived the plot. On April 14, the accused had served poisoned liquor to Kartik of the same village, but his family rushed him to hospital the moment his condition worsened, and his life was saved.
He even joined the funerals to avoid suspicion
What makes the case more chilling is that, to keep anyone from suspecting him, the accused would pretend to help take the dead to hospital and would take part in their last rites. During questioning, Ramsahay admitted that he killed eight people and attempted to kill one more by lacing liquor with poison, driven by old grudges, disputes over petty matters, abuses, suspicion over someone's character and beliefs around black magic.
Police have registered eight cases of murder and one of attempted murder against the accused. More details are expected to emerge once the forensic reports come in.
