Borax Poisoning Case in Chhattisgarh

A shopkeeper in Chhattisgarh allegedly used deadly amounts of borax powder to poison eight men over four months. That’s what the police said on Tuesday.

The whole thing happened in a village called Kharve, under Kasdol police station limits. The murders stretched out between February and May this year. It was chilling stuff.

Ram Sahay Jaiswal, forty-six years old, is the accused. He only got caught after the investigation finally broke through after he killed his very last victim.

Police reported that for months, Jaiswal managed to dodge suspicion. He even showed up at the funerals of his victims, trying to look like a grieving relative.

It turns out, according to the police, this guy was driven by something darker. Revenge . Mental frustration. Old grudges from minor fights and personal disputes with these men. He was labeled a "psycho killer."

Before all this came to light, the deaths were initially blamed on illness or bad luck. But eventually, villagers and relatives started getting suspicious about Jaiswal’s involvement, asking questions of the police earlier this month.

Given how serious the allegations were getting, the police finally kicked into gear. They launched a deep probe. This meant exhuming the body of his last victim, Mahetaru Sahu, who died on May 14th. That happened on June 13th.

The Superintendent of Police in charge, Sharma, said they got those bodies dug up. Six more were also pulled out and sent to Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in Mekahara, Raipur. They needed post-mortems done. One body, Budhram Jaiswal’s remains, couldn't be found because he had already been cremated.

A special medico-legal team handled the autopsies. They collected DNA samples, viscera, and other evidence for the lab. Everything they could find was preserved.

Police set up multiple teams to look into these deaths. They talked to villagers and watched what happened on the ground, gathering all sorts of forensic details.

The investigation eventually revealed how it started. Jaiswal had taken ‘suhaga’ that’s borax powder from a local villager. He claimed he just needed it to kill rats. A flimsy excuse for such horrific acts.

When questioned, Jaiswal initially denied everything. But eventually, he confessed. He admitted he targeted them one by one. Old disputes fueled him. Verbal altercations. Allegations of witchcraft. Personal grievances all mixed up in his revenge spree.

The timeline of the killings was complex. It wasn't just random.

Jaiswal first tested the poison on a dog. After that animal died, he allegedly made his first killing on February 6th. He laced liquor with borax for Badri, someone Jaiswal had frequently argued with.

Encouraged by that first act, things escalated quickly. Then came Buthalu on February 20th. That was linked to community issues and a local election fight.

March brought more victims. On March 12th, he allegedly poisoned Chhattu Ram, whom Jaiswal suspected of wanting something from his wife. Soon after, on March 20th, he targeted Budhram over some land dispute and rivalry between them.

Vinod Kumar became the next one on March 31st. Then there was Gajanand. Jaiswal allegedly killed him using poisoned liquor on April 28th, because he thought Gajanand was practicing black magic and causing financial trouble.

Investigators also found something about money. Jaiswal had borrowed fifty thousand rupees from another victim named Chaituram. He supposedly killed Chaituram on April 29th to avoid paying the interest on that loan. And finally, his last target, Mahetaru Ram, was murdered on May 14th.

But there’s a twist here. Not all of Jaiswal's targets died from the poison. One victim, Kartik, survived after drinking some of the poisoned liquor. His family took him to the hospital, and he recovered later on.

The accused did something else too. He helped families get their victims to hospitals. He even attended the funerals. It was all done to avoid any suspicion falling on him.

For months, people just chalked it up to illness or bad luck. Suspicion only really started growing when residents realized that all eight men who died had reportedly met Jaiswal right before they passed away. Kartik himself told the police that Jaiswal had given him poisoned liquor.

So, based on what we have so far, the police have officially registered eight cases of murder and one case of attempted murder against Ram Sahay Jaiswal. The forensic reports are still pending. Further investigation is definitely underway.