Devender Sharma, who had his own ayurvedic clinic before his arrest and reportedly was an accomplished surgeon, was said by police to have had nothing in particular against taxi drivers.

They said he was no more than a common car thief who "enjoyed the bloodshed" and saw the drivers as soft targets.

A sessions court at Gurgaon, on the fringes of New Delhi, sentenced the doctor for the murder of one his victims.

But police said that under interrogation he had confessed to dozens of killings. "We don’t know what made him abandon his medical career and embark on a life of crime," a senior police official was quoted as saying.

"Once he reached his destination, he would direct two of his accomplices waiting at the destination to get inside the vehicle.

"The driver would then be driven to a secluded spot where the driver would be killed and his car stolen."

His accomplices have not yet been arrested.

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