‘Tantrik’ used sleeping pills, sulpha tablets to poison three persons in Delhi

During examination of Naresh’s belongings, police found a few pieces of paper from his wallet in which a few mantras were written. “One of the papers had a mantra which, when carefully examined, was found to be used by tantriks to invoke “djinn”, an investigator said.

New Delhi: A day after the 72-year-old ‘tantrik’ was arrested in connection with the deaths of three people on northwest Delhi’s Peeragarhi flyover, police have found that the man used a combination of powdered sulphas tablets and sleeping pills allegedly mixed into laddoos to poison the three individuals, police said.

The three victims were found poisoned in a white Tigor car parked on the flyover (Representative photo)

According to investigators, the self-styled tantrik, Kamruddin, told police that he prepared the poisoned laddoos at the grocery shop run by his family.

The victims — Randhir Singh, 76, Shiv Naresh, 47, and Laxmi, 40 — were found in a white Tigor car parked on the flyover. There were no external injuries or signs of struggle.

During examination of Naresh’s belongings, police found a few pieces of paper from his wallet in which a few mantras were written. “One of the papers had a mantra which, when carefully examined, was found to be used by tantriks to invoke ‘djinn’”, an investigator said, adding that other papers also had similar cryptic notes they believe were given to Singh by Kamruddin for ‘dhanvarsha’ (windfall).

DCP (Outer) Sachin Sharma said on Thursday that Kamruddin confessed to his involvement in at least three murder cases, but police suspect the number of victims could be higher.

The officer said that they also examined Laxmi’s smartphone and found that she was highly influenced by Kamruddin and many others like him for better health of her husband and monetary gains,” the officer said.

“Kamruddin’s initial plan was to convince the victims into consuming the laddoos at his house itself and then returning to their residence and wait for ‘dhanvarsha (windfall)’ that would have converted their ₹2 lakh into ₹3 crore. Since the victims insisted that he accompanied them to their house and remained with them to ensure they get the surprise money, he carried the laddoos with him and gave them to eat near the Peeragarhi flyover. He first made them consume liquor to ensure they were inebriated enough to fail smelling the poison mixed in the sweets,” said another officer, requesting anonymity.

According to investigators, police have so far questioned over 25 people who were in touch with Kamruddin and were following his false practices.

Police said that Kamruddin allegedly learned occult practices around 2010 in Uttar Pradesh from a self-styled guru and began posing as a healer who claimed to solve people’s personal and financial problems through occult practices.