In Vijay Nagar's cramped bylanes in Loni, a house stands like any other - kirana shop below, family upstairs, eateries doing brisk business nearby. However, investigators now say the same address may be linked to a string of killings stretching from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
To many residents, 72-year-old Kamruddin was a "peer" - a man believed to possess spiritual powers. For years, people arrived here not with suspicion, but with hope. They came seeking cures. People claimed that he treated everything - from kidney stones to chronic illnesses. There was a time when cars would line up on the narrow street outside his house at odd hours. There were no appointments taken, just word of mouth was enough.
Inside the house, a shrine-like space on the ground floor was used for rituals. Offerings - fruits, eggs, lemons, ashes - were common. What remained after the ceremonies often ended up in a vacant plot directly opposite his house. Suspicious neighbours would warn their children "not to go near that plot", one resident said.
There was a time when Kamruddin owned just a single modest room. However, that changed dramatically over the past decade. Today, the family owns multiple properties in the same lane, including a grocery store, a hotel, a food corner and a fast food joint. According to some locals, the family also have a marriage hall and some plots in Firozabad.
The expansion did raise eyebrows. "If he could turn lakhs into crores like people believed, why is his own son driving an e-rickshaw?" a neighbour said.
Not everyone was comfortable around the "peer" either. A 60-year-old resident recalled that initially her relations with Kamruddin were cordial. However, that changed when she once saw a skull placed near the shrine. "After that, we stopped visiting," she said.
Some residents also allege that Kamruddin invoked black magic as a threat.
Kamruddin was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the deaths of three people in Delhi - Randhir, Shiv Naresh and Laxmi. Their bodies were recovered from a vehicle near a flyover in Peeragarhi on Sunday, February 8. Police sources claimed that Kamruddin showed no remorse during questioning.
Apart from the Delhi triple murder case, Kamruddin is also being examined in connection with a double murder case in Firozabad and an earlier killing in Rajasthan dating back to 2014.
According to DCP (Outer) Sachin Sharma, Kamruddin learnt occult practices around 2010 from a mentor in Uttar Pradesh. "His first known victim was a couple from Rajasthan. The woman was not able to conceive a child, so they contacted Kamruddin for 'treatment'. On Kamruddin's instructions, the woman was killed by her husband," Sharma said.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
