Another person, 60-year-old Ameenullah Babu, was also arrested for supplying Cyanide to Simhadri.

Police said after initial interrogation that Simhadri, also known as Siva, tricked his victims into giving him money in exchange for ‘rice pulling coins’-something that is believed to attract prosperity.

Simhadri also claimed that he had supernatural powers.

He asked victims to secure money for purchasing the coins and later took them to an isolated place and gave them prasadam (holy offering) laced with Cyanide. As soon as they collapsed, he carefully took away cash and any expensive items from the deceased people.

Simhadri poisoned 10 people including his landlord and sister-in-law in a similar manner, reported The Deccan Herald.

West Godavari Superintendent of police Navdeep Singh Garewal said Simhadri committed serial murders in three districts of Krishna, East Godavari, and West Godavari in a planned manner.

“He (Simhadri) trapped some persons by saying that he will double the amount (money) by performing pooja and then gave Cyanide as Prasadam and to some persons, he administered the Cyanide as ayurvedic medicine and committed the serial offences for gaining money in an illegal way,” Navdeep Singh said.

Siva, who worked as a watchman at an Eluru apartment complex, came into focus for the first time after claiming the life of his last victim, 49-year-old Kati Nagaraju, who was a physical education teacher in an Eluru government school.

After checking CCTV footage in connection with the last murder, police found that Nagaraju was carrying gold worth over Rs two lakh. Police also revealed that Nagaraju had gone to meet with Simhadri.

While Nagaraju said he was going to deposit cash and gold in the bank, his body was found hours later without any cash or gold.

The fact that there were no injuries on his body had cops puzzled, following which they focused on the CCTV footage to solve the crime. Police also went through the call records of Nagaraju, which showed that he was in contact with Simhadri.

When Simhadri was questioned in relation to the case and his phone records were checked, police hit the jackpot. They found that all nine victims killed earlier in a similar manner were in touch with Simhadri.

Police said that Simhadri admitted to killing at least one person in a span of two months over the past two years and robbed the victims of over Rs 20 lakh in total. A significant amount of gold was also seized from Simhadri.

Simhadri’s arrest seems to have saved the lives of 10 other people, who were in contact with the killer.

The murders committed by Simhadri or ‘Cyanide Siva’ surfaced at a time when Kerala Police have been dealing with a similar case. 47-year-old Jolly Shaju, who recently confessed to poisoning six members of her family by adding Cyanide to their food.