The Poison "Guinea Pig" Murder
How a Teacher Murdered a Neighbor to Perfect His Plan to Commit Suicide and Insurance Fraud
On February 9, 2025, a small town in Gujarat, India was stymied when three unrelated men collapsed and died within minutes of sharing a bottle of jeera soda, a popular local drink. Investigators at first thought food poisoning or a tainted batch of soda was the culprit. But as they dug deeper, the evidence suggested something far more disturbing: a deliberate poisoning by a local schoolteacher, forty-two-year-old Harikishan Makwana.
forty-two-year-old Harikishan Makwana
Makwana hadn't poisoned these men out of hatred or for revenge or money. His interest was purely scientific; the victim was his guinea pig. He was conducting a morbid experiment to see whether sodium nitrite would be a viable way to disguise a suicide. If his victim's death was ruled a natural or accidental death, he could feel confident that his own death would be ruled similarly. If his death was ruled a murder, well, that was problematic, but as long as it was unsolved, his family would still receive his ₹25 lakh (approximately $30,000) life insurance payout.
Makwana targeted neighbor Kanu Chauhan, a deaf and mute man whom he reasoned wouldn't be able to identify him should he somehow survive the poisoning. What Makwana didn't anticipate was Chauhan's generous nature or the fact that he often shared his food and drinks with his two friends, Yogesh Kushwaha and Ravindra Rathod. Within minutes of drinking the tainted soda, all three men were dead.
You might be wondering where in the world an educator with no criminal history would come up with a plot that would rival a mystery novel. In his confession, Makwana said he drew his inspiration from news accounts of a local tantrik (a spiritual leader who practices tantra, a discipline with roots in both Buddhism and Hinduism) who had poisoned multiple victims for money before finally being caught. His admission raised immediate concern about the role of crime coverage in the media and how often it tempts like-minded evildoers to copy what they've read.
So, is this a "copycat" offense? Would Makwana have still murdered his neighbor if he had not read about the "success" of another poisoner? And what kind of internal conversation would go on inside someone's head to justify taking someone else's life, no matter how desperate the circumstances or altruistic the motive? Let's explore both of these.
The Backdrop to the Murders
For most of his adult life, Harikishan Makwana led what appeared to be an ordinary life as a schoolteacher in Nadiad, a town in Gujarat's Kheda district. At forty-two, he had built a career in education and was raising two teenage children with his wife, also a schoolteacher. But as is inevitably the case in true crime, all was not what it seemed.
He had recently lost his father. In addition, since 2013, Makwana had been entangled in a legal case that threatened his reputation, freedom, and livelihood. Court records showed that Makwana had been charged with extortion in an alleged "honey trapping" scheme, a form of extortion where victims are lured into compromising situations and then blackmailed with evidence of their indiscretions. While Makwana claims the charges were false, the case was severe enough to have dragged on for nearly twelve years in the Patan district court. He faced a fine and up to three years of imprisonment if convicted.
For a schoolteacher in a conservative region of India, such charges would have devastating social consequences even if proven innocent: family shame, social ostracism, and employment barriers. According to police reports, the stress of his prolonged legal battle had begun to weigh heavily on him, and he became increasingly convinced he might be convicted. Perhaps most significantly, Makwana dreaded his teenage children discovering the nature of the charges against him. He had become increasingly depressed. He started thinking about suicide.
But suicide in a family brought its own shame. And who would support his family if he died? Makwana's thoughts increasingly turned towards his his₹25 lakh life insurance policy, which could cover seven to ten years of his family's living expenses. The insurance company wouldn't pay if he died by suicide; how could he get around this restriction? Gradually, this insurance money became Makwana's obsession and - perhaps - a way for him to absolve himself of sin.
The Murder Plan
Makwana spent a great deal of time researching methods that would allow him to die by suicide while making his death appear natural or accidental. His searches eventually led him to sodium nitrite, a compound that can cause rapid oxygen deprivation and death when consumed in sufficient quantities.
On January 21, 2025, Makwana ordered sodium nitrite through a popular e-commerce platform. This first attempt was thwarted when his wife discovered the chemical and, concerned about his intentions, forced him to flush it down the toilet. However, investigators learned that Makwana had secretly preserved a small amount in a bottle.
What happened next demonstrates the disturbing calculus of Makwana's thinking. Rather than simply proceeding with his suicide plan, he decided he needed to verify the effectiveness of his chosen method and understand how authorities would classify such a death. He needed a test subject.
The Crime and Its Victims
Makwana selected his neighbor, 54-year-old Kanu Chauhan, for his experiment. The choice was deliberate and strategic—Chauhan was deaf and mute. "He thought that since Chauhan couldn’t communicate, he would not be able to tell anyone that Makwana had given him the drink in case he survived," explained Superintendent Ghadiya.
On February 9, Makwana prepared a bottle of jeera soda, a carbonated drink flavored with cumin that's popular throughout the region. He laced it with sodium nitrite and gave it to Chauhan. Makwana hadn't anticipated that Chauhan would share the drink with others—a habit known to those familiar with him. Chauhan offered the soda to two acquaintances: Yogesh Kushwaha, a 40-year-old panipuri vendor, and Ravindra Rathod, a 49-year-old daily wage laborer.
Within minutes of consuming the drink, all three men collapsed. The sodium nitrite in the soda would have triggered a rapid and severe physiological reaction. The victims would have quickly developed cyanosis (a bluish discoloration of the skin and lips), followed by headaches, dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, and increasing respiratory distress. As their bodies absorbed the poison, they would have experienced weakness, confusion, and disorientation before losing consciousness. Their bodies, unable to transport oxygen despite breathing normally, would have undergone what amounts to cellular suffocation, leading to cardiovascular collapse and multiple organ failure. From an observer's perspective, the rapid deterioration and the distinctive bluish coloration would have made it immediately apparent that something was severely wrong, explaining why bystanders quickly sought medical help.
Bystanders, including Makwana himself, rushed them to a hospital. This seemingly compassionate act by Makwana masked his actual intention. Police said Makwana later told them he accompanied Chauhan to the hospital, not out of concern but to learn how medical professionals would classify the cause of death.
He followed news about the forensic reports with interest, specifically to understand if the scientific findings would "hamper his insurance policy" when he eventually used the same method on himself. "When he found out it was a cardio-respiratory arrest, "said investigator Ghadiya, "he felt he could use it... He has confessed that although he was the one who rushed Chauhan to the hospital, he did so only with the intention of finding out the medical consequences of consuming sodium nitrite."
The Investigation
When three men die suddenly after consuming a local drink, the first suspicion in Gujarat—a state with a history of illicit alcohol poisonings despite prohibition—is tainted hooch. However, post-mortem examinations quickly revealed no methanol in the victims' systems, the most common cause of death in contaminated alcohol. What the forensic analysis did uncover was lethal amounts of sodium nitrite. These were deliberate poisonings.
Police began gathering information about who might have given the drink to the victims. They also checked e-commerce data to identify recent and local purchases of sodium nitrite. This digital trail led investigators to Makwana. When confronted with the evidence, Makwana confessed. He described his depression, suicidal thoughts, and his elaborate plan to test a method that would allow his death to appear natural, thereby securing the insurance payout for his family. The Kheda police arrested Makwana on March 4, 2025, charging him with murder.
Forensic Psychological Perspectives
From Suicidal Ideation to Homicidal Planning: I was taught in graduate school that there was an inverse relationship between suicide and murder. The thinking at the time was that people who kill themselves internalize their pain while those who kill others hold others responsible. We know that violence is violence and that, while uncommon, someone who is capable of destroying themselves may be perfectly capable of killing others. Think of the 600 murder-suicides that happen every year. This number is a fraction of the 49,000 suicide deaths that occur in the U.S. every year. Still, most of these perpetrators start as depressed and suicidal and, somewhere along the line, decide to take someone else with them.
It's not that Makwana turned to murder when he was planning a suicide that makes him a unicorn. It was the dispassionate motive and methodology behind it. Makwana's approach involved methodical research, testing, and adaptation over months. This level of planning reflects "instrumental thinking"—a problem-solving approach focused on practical concerns rather than an emotional payoff. Makwana apparently concluded that homicide was a necessary step, unfortunate perhaps but a procedural necessity to maximize his plan's success. This conclusion represents a profound distortion of moral reasoning.
The Insurance Motive: The path of criminal poisoners is littered with financial motives. Yet for Makwana, the policy represented more than money; it symbolized his last contribution as a provider. Research on family breadwinners who considered suicide sometimes reveals this paradoxical thinking: the belief that taking their lives will solve financial problems for their loved ones. They can then view their self-destruction as a distorted form of altruism, a loving sacrifice. An insurance payout, for instance, becomes concrete proof that their life - and death - had value.
News reports indicate that Makwana's wife discovered his sodium nitrite purchase before the murders and knew he was thinking of suicide; she immediately demanded that he throw it away. He did, but not before carving out a sufficient amount for his plan. Rather than realize the error in his ways, though, he appears to have doubled down in his efforts to end his life while providing financially for his family. The murder of his neighbor, he concluded, would help him achieve both.
Victim Selection: Perhaps most disturbing from a psychological perspective is Makwana's selection of Chauhan as his test subject. His deliberate targeting of someone unable to speak reveals a calculated exploitation of vulnerability, explicitly chosen to minimize his risk. It also demonstrates a profound level of dehumanization, i.e., viewing Chauhan not as a person but as a means to an end.
Dehumanization typically requires psychological distancing mechanisms. For some criminals, this involves viewing the victims as inferior or evil or blaming them for their own demise. Others use alcohol or drugs to dull their senses and provide an excuse for their actions. We don't know what conversation went on in Makwana's head; it may be that his depression and fixation on his family's financial security created sufficient emotional distance that he didn't think about Chauhan at all.
There's some evidence of moral disengagement in Makwana's behavior. He likely minimized his sense of responsibility for the outcome by framing his actions as a test or experiment. This cognitive restructuring—reimagining his victim as a test subject—represents a classic mechanism by which otherwise ordinary individuals can commit harmful acts.
Copycat Crime or Something Else?
The term "copycat crime" pops up everywhere, from describing serial killers who study those who have gone before them to blaming violent video games for a teenager's rampage. The actual definition of this term is much narrower. According to Ray Sourette, the foremost researcher on copycat crimes, a copycat crime involves criminal behavior deliberately modeled after a previous crime publicized through media. The core psychological dynamic involves inspiration, imitation, and often identification with the original perpetrator.
Several key elements are required for classification as a copycat crime:
A "generator" crime that receives media coverage
Exposure to this media coverage by the subsequent offender
Deliberate incorporation of significant elements from the original crime
Some degree of psychological connection to or fascination with the original crime or criminal
This distinction is important because it points to psychological processes different from those typically observed in copycat offenders.
In traditional copycat cases, media coverage often provides technical knowledge and psychological permission or encouragement—normalizing or glamorizing certain criminal behaviors. The copycat typically feels connected to the original perpetrator, sometimes viewing them as role models or kindred spirits.
Copycat dynamics can take various forms—from meticulous recreation of specific methods to broader adoption of a criminal persona or motivation. What distinguishes these behaviors psychologically is that the media coverage itself functions as a triggering or enabling mechanism for the subsequent crime. The goal is fame or notoriety; as such, the copycat may attempt to outdo his revered role model to claim the criminal throne.
Assessing Makwana's Case
According to police reports, Makwana drew inspiration for his poisoning plan from news accounts about a traditional healer/spiritualist who had been arrested for poisoning 12 people for financial gain in Ahmedabad. This connection suggests at least a superficial relationship to copycat behavior.
However, significant differences emerge when we examine the psychological underpinnings more closely. As previously noted, genuine copycat criminals are often motivated by a desire for similar notoriety, a fascination with the original perpetrator, or an identification with the criminal's persona or worldview. The original crime serves as a script or template that the copycat seeks to follow or even outdo.
Makwana wasn't attempting to recreate the tantrik's crimes or assume a similar identity. Instead, he extracted a specific technical element—the poison method—to serve his entirely different goal. What we see in Makwana's case might better be described as "method borrowing" rather than true copycat behavior. He wasn't psychologically invested in the original crime beyond its usefulness in helping him complete his mission.
The tantrik's crimes merely provided technical information that Makwana incorporated into his own distinct plan. His goal was not to replicate the experience of the original crime but to adapt its method for his unique purpose. Additionally, while most copycat criminals seek some form of recognition or notoriety similar to what they believe the original criminal received, Makwana was methodically working to make sure no one would discover the murder or know he had committed suicide, the opposite of seeking recognition for his crime.
This case shows how easily we can stretch the boundaries in labeling a crime as a copycat. Most premeditated murderers get their ideas from somewhere, whether it's from friends, family, or a film. Few, however, have the psychological dynamics that typically define copycat crimes—identification, fascination, and desire for similar recognition.
Conclusion
Harikishan Makwana's case defies simple categorization. While media accounts of another poisoning case inspired elements of his crime, his motivation and psychological processes diverge significantly from traditional copycat behavior. What we see instead is a disturbing intersection of situational stress, increasing depression, and suicidal urges with criminal behavior. We see a man in crisis who carries out a premeditated murder as a test run for insurance fraud.
This case reveals how seemingly disparate psychological processes can converge in unexpected and dangerous ways. We see a man whose desperation and depression evolved into murder instead of prosocial options like getting help. We see a man whose desire to provide financial support for his family posthumously transformed what might have been a private tragedy into a public crime. We see a man whose media exposure to lethal methods did not inspire him in the conventional copycat sense, but provided technical information he could adapt to his own deadly agenda.
Perhaps most importantly, this case underscores the often-overlooked connections between suicidal thinking and homicidal action. While most suicidal individuals pose no threat to others, Makwana's case demonstrates how, under specific psychological and situational pressures, the boundary between self-harm and harm to others can dissolve in service of a distorted goal.
In the final analysis, Makwana's crime represents a unique convergence of multiple factors. This case reminds us that human behavior at its most disturbing often occurs not when individuals step fully outside societal norms but when they pursue otherwise understandable goals through profoundly distorted means.