Bhopal court sentences 2, years after missing truck unraveled 30 murders

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.

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.

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.

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.