In June 2018, driver Rajesh Panwar and cleaner Noor Khan were reported missing after they went to park their truck in Bhopal. It soon emerged that the vehicle was also missing. As the probe widened, police seized two trucks from Bihar and found that Aadesh Khambra and Jaykaran Prajapati had stolen the truck from Bhopal, murdered Panwar and Khan, and dumped their bodies at separate locations.
The convicts started killing drivers by mixing sedatives in their food.
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Further investigation showed Khambra and Prajapati had been stealing trucks, murdering drivers and cleaners, and selling the trucks and their cargo. Khambra was arrested in August 2018 in connection with the robbery of 50 tonnes of iron rods from a truck. But the investigation revealed that he had committed 15 murders in Madhya Pradesh, eight in Maharashtra, five in Chhattisgarh and two in Odisha.
Eight years after their arrest, a Bhopal court sentenced Khambra and Prajapati to double life imprisonment on Wednesday for killing at least 30 people across four states and fined them ₹1,000 each.
Additional Sessions Judge Ashutosh Shukla sentenced Sahab Singh and Sunil Khatik to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹1,000 each for assisting Khambra and Prajapati in selling the trucks.
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Khambra stitched uniforms for factory workers until 2010, when he met a gang from Jhansi at a roadside restaurant. They offered him ₹50,000 to befriend lonely truck drivers, buy them liquor, and invite them for parties. While the drivers drank, his gang would steal trucks and goods.
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Khambra stitched uniforms for factory workers until 2010, when he met a gang from Jhansi at a roadside restaurant. They offered him ₹50,000 to befriend lonely truck drivers, buy them liquor, and invite them for parties. While the drivers drank, his gang would steal trucks and goods.
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Khambra started killing drivers by mixing sedatives into their food. Once they fell unconscious, he would drive the trucks, strangle the drivers and cleaners, and dump the bodies. He continued this until August 2018, when he was arrested for the first time and confessed to murdering at least 30 people.
I have spent over a decade chronicling Madhya Pradesh’s political and social landscape, covering politics, investigative journalism, crime, human interest, and government policy, blending sharp insight with ground‑level depth. I have closely tracked three assembly elections, three Lok Sabha elections, leadership transitions in MP while exposing governance lapses, tender irregularities, and flawed policy rollouts. My reports have revealed gaps in the Cheetah project, irregularities in medical education, rigging in recruitment exams, and loopholes in policy implementation. In crime reporting, I have moved beyond FIRs to map systemic patterns — from organised crime networks and gender‑based violence to custodial accountability — balancing urgency with sensitivity. My journalism is defined by a commitment to human interest. I have profiled the marginalised Bancchda community, documented atrocities against tribal groups, and highlighted efforts to preserve their culture through heritage liquor and revival of spiritual practices. I have reported on farmers struggling with failed MSP promises, giving voice to those often reduced to statistics in policy files. Passionate about field reporting, I have reported on rampant sand mining in Chambal and Narmada, pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines under altered names, the dire condition of schools and colleges, the plight of commercial sex workers, and skewed sex ratios in specific districts. Beyond deadlines, and as HT’s state correspondent and assistant editor in Madhya Pradesh, I engage with ministers, farmers, students, and activists, believing the best policy stories begin with a single human voice. A postgraduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, I also hold a diploma in sports journalism.
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Home/India News/Bhopal court sentences 2, years after missing truck unraveled 30 murders
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