Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): In a significant verdict, the District and Sessions Court in Bhopal on Friday awarded life imprisonment to serial killer Shiv Prasad, alias Halku, for murdering four security guards in 2022. The killings took place in Sagar and Bhopal within a span of just one week.
Prasad was convicted for killing three security guards in Sagar and one in Bhopal. In May 2024, the Sagar District Court had already convicted Prasad, also known as Shivprasad Dhurve, sentencing him to life imprisonment for the murder of 60-year-old Shambhu Saran Dubey, who was on duty at a government college in Sagar on August 29, 2022.
Dhurve killed Dubey while he was asleep on duty, using a stone to smash his head. In the same week, Dhurve killed three other on-duty security guards in a similar manner.
In Bhopal, Dhurve murdered 23-year-old Sonu Verma, a security guard, by hitting him with a piece of a marble pillar in Khajuri Road area in 2022. The crime was discovered on September 2, 2022, when the complainant, Santosh, went to the Goraji Marble shop and noticed blood stains.
Upon searching for Sonu, Santosh and the marble shop owner, Rajendra Devpura, found Sonu's body lying on a black stone inside the warehouse. His head was severely injured and blood was pouring from the wound. Thereafter, Khajuri Road police registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC and started an investigation.
The police later arrested Dhurve on September 7, 2022, after receiving information from the Central Jail Sagar and obtaining permission for the arrest. Dhurve's arrest led to further investigations into the string of killings.
Special Public Prosecutor Sudha Bhadoria said that the investigation revealed that Dhurve killed Sonu Verma in the same brutal manner as the other victims, hitting him with a marble pillar and leaving him to die. The police acted swiftly and filed charges against Dhurve, ultimately convicting him for his series of violent crimes.Shiv Prasad’s life sentence follows the earlier conviction in Sagar.
