For nearly a year, a serial killer rampaged across three Punjab districts, claiming nine lives. Lapses by police in Hoshiarpur and Fatehgarh Sahib fecilitated accused Sodhi’s grisly spree, during which he enticed victims into homosexual acts before killing them, to persist. A report by Raju William
On a murder spree since January 2024 in three districts of Punjab, the rampaging serial killer Ram Saroop alias Sodhi, finally landed in the police net after eleven months. He hails from village Chaura in the jurisdiction of police station Garhshankar in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.
Before his arrest by the Rupnagar district police last month, he allegedly murdered nine persons single-handedly and without using any sharp-edged weapon. Of these, three murders were committed in the jurisdiction of Rupnagar district and other six in the neighbouring Hoshiarpur and Fatehgarh Sahib districts.
During the investigation, he confessed to having used crude methods like hitting his victim with a piece of wood and strangulating with either a piece of cloth or a muffler. It has been revealed that the alleged accused is a homosexual and all his victims were of the same sexual orientation.
Notably, the trail of murders came to light during the investigation by the Rupnagar police using scientific and human intelligence methods in cracking this case which probably is considered to be the first of its kind involving a serial killer.
However, sources said that had the police in Hoshiarpur and Fatehgarh Sahib districts acted with due diligence, there was a possibility of the serial killer having been apprehended earlier.
After his arrest, the police from other two districts have been reworking on the murder cases about which he has made revelations during his interrogation by the Rupnagar police.
About the alleged killer’s modus operandi, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gulneet Singh Khurana said he used to take car and motorist drivers for lifts and have sexual intercourse with them and later on, he would rob and kill them.
The Rupnagar police had registered all the three cases reported in its jurisdiction under murder charges. One was registered under 103 (1) of the BNS because it was reported in August 2024 after the new laws came into effect in July 2024. Other two cases were registered under section now defunct 302 of the IPC in January and April 2024.
In other two districts, FIRs were not registered and only the inquest proceedings were done in as many as five cases reported from there. For instance, no FIR was done despite recovery of the body of the deceased identified as Negi in the case reported at the police station Fatehgarh Sahib in February 2024, said sources.
In another case reported in May 2024 in the jurisdiction of the police station Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district, the alleged accused confessed to have strangulated a young victim Sanjeev Kumar alias Lucky to death. The police had registered a case under section 304 of the IPC amounting to culpable homicide instead of murder.
As per the established law, if a body is recovered, there must be a cause of death and the same has to be investigated. In the cases where the bodies have been recovered, the concerned district police allegedly failed to initiate adequate action.
Sources further said that identification of the victims has been done in nine cases. In the tenth case, the investigation revealed he was not sure whether his victim had died or not because he had fled from the scene of the crime sensing somebody coming. This took place near village Ganguwal under the police station Sri Anandpur Sahib in Rupnagar district. Currently, he is in the custody of the Rupnagar police. More revelations are expected in the heinous crime as the investigation progresses.
