Ahmedabad: A tantrik who confessed to killing 12 people with sodium nitrite died in police custody on Sunday, officials said.
Sarkhej police had arrested the 42-year-old tantrik, identified as Navalsinh Chavda, in the early hours of December 1 for allegedly conspiring to murder a businessman, reported PTI.
His taxi business partner, with whom he had shared the plan, tipped off the police who got on Chavda’s trail and apprehended him when he was on way to commit the crime.
Police secured Chavda’s remand till 3 pm on December 10 to investigate his occult practices and possible involvement in human sacrifices.
“Around 10 am on Sunday, Chavda fell ill and was rushed to the civil hospital in an ambulance, but the doctors declared him dead on arrival. The accused confessed to 12 murders during interrogation, and all deaths had occurred due to consumption of sodium nitrite,” the police official said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shivam Verma said the accused made his victims consume sodium nitrite dissolved in water during occult rituals.
While in police custody, Chavda admitted to having murdered a man in Ahmedabad, six in Surendranagar — including three members of his family — three in Rajkot, and one each in Wankaner (Morbi district) and Anjar (Kutch district), Verma informed.
According to police, Chavda procured sodium nitrite, a chemical used for dry cleaning, from a laboratory in Surendranagar, his hometown. He had found out about the chemical from another tantrik.
Incriminating evidence have been found from Chavda’s vehicle, including items used in rituals and white powder, police said.
The probe revealed that Chavda had killed his grandmother in similar fashion around 14 years ago, as well as his mother and uncle a year ago.
Some of the tantrik’s victims died of heart attacks due to poisoning, while the other deaths are still under investigation, the official said.
Chavda, who called himself a ‘bhuvaji’, used to claim that he had the power to perform magic and miracles. He had an ashram at Wadhwan in Surendranagar, where he practised black magic, police said.
He would entrap people by offering to multiply their wealth or solve their problems.
