MP serial killer who killed watchmen sleeping on duty convicted, gets life term

At the time of his arrest, police said Shivprasad Dhurve was smiling throughout his questioning for killing 4 people and claimed he did not like people sleeping at work

BHOPAL: Shivprasad Dhurve, who was accused of killing four on-duty security guards in their sleep in a week in 2022, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, a special prosecutor said on Friday..

Shivprasad Dhurve,the youngest of four siblings, left home at 15, (HT FILE PHOTO)

Sagar district’s additional sessions judge Prashant Saxena delivered Friday’s verdict, convicting Dhurve of killing 60-year-old Shambhu Saran Dubey when he was sleeping on duty at a government college on August 29, 2022. Dhurve smashed his head with a stone.

According to the prosecution, Shambhu Saran Dubey was the second person to have been killed by Dhurve, who was then just 19. He went on to kill two more before he was arrested by one of the 10 teams formed to track him down in September 2022.

Shivprasad told the police officers who caught him that he did not like people sleeping on the job.

Special public prosecutor Saurabh Dimha said sessions judge Prashant Saxena convicted Shivprasad Dhurve after a trial that saw 25 witnesses deposing against him.

At the time of his arrest in 2022, police said Dhruve first got into trouble as a juvenile, in 2018, in Pune, where he attacked the owner of a restaurant where he worked as waiter.

He then went to Goa and waited at some restaurants there. He returned to Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar in August 2022 after losing his job.

The first murder was reported on August 28 when Kalyan Lodhi, 57, posted at a factory, died after his head was smashed. Shambhu Saran Dubey, 60, who was on duty at a college, was found murdered on August 29 in the same way. The third murder was reported on August 30, when Mangal Ahirwar, 45 was killed with a plougher. Another security guard, Uttam Rajak, was killed at an under-construction railway bridge in May.