The serial killer has been identified as 18-year-old Shivprasad Dhurve. He allegedly bludgeoned four security guards to death and was driven by an urge to "become famous", according to police. The man's identity was learnt from his Aadhaar card.?

Dhurve targeted sleeping security guards and killed three of them in Sagar district and the fourth one in Bhopal, police said. The first three killings came in the span of 72 hours earlier in the week, while the fourth victim from Bhopal was killed a few hours before Dhurve was arrested Friday.

Police are also probing his role in the murder of another security guard —fifth suspected murder— in May.

Sagar SP Tarun Nayak said Dhurve has confessed to the four murders, adding he was influenced by social media and was dying to become famous.?

Dhurve was arrested in Bhopal on the basis of the location of a mobile phone which he had picked up from a victim in Sagar, said state Home Minister Narottam Mishra, adding that the police tracked Dhurve, a resident of Sagar district, as he was carrying the mobile phone of the second or third victim.

“Dhurve wanted to earn but has a negative mindset. He watched video clips on social media platforms. He doesn't appear to be a psychopath,” Sagar range Inspector General (IG) Anurag told PTI, adding that police personnel traced Dhurve after an informer told them that someone who looked like the person they were searching for was spotted in the Koh-e-Fiza area of Bhopal.

Earlier, the police had released the sketch of a suspect. Visuals of a man killing a victim had also surfaced.

It appears Dhurve wanted to get “negative publicity” and also earn money, said Anurag, adding that Dhurve has admitted that he tried to kill a man in Pune after a dispute in Koregaon area where he worked as a hotel waiter and that he was booked for an attempt to murder in Pune under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and was out on bail.

Police have recovered two mobile phones he pocketed after killing two security guards and also a cycle, another official said, adding that Dhurve used to flee with the mobile phone and money of the victims.

Asked about reports that Dhurve was influenced by the character of “Rocky bhai” from the film KGF2, Anurag said no such point came during his interrogation.

Dhurve was a labourer who worked at many places including Maharashtra, an official said. He has a brother and two sisters, but details about his parents are not available, he added.

Dhurve killed Sonu Verma (23), who was a security guard in a marble shop in the area, by hitting him with a marble pillar in Khajuri area of Bhopal on Thursday night, said local police station in-charge Sandhya Mishra.

His first murder was in Sagar city, about 170 km north of Bhopal, where he killed Kalyan Lodhi, who was in his 50s and worked as a guard at a factory, on the intervening night of August 28-29. Lodhi's head was smashed with a hammer. Shambhu Narayan Dube (60), who was on duty as security guard at an arts and commerce college, was killed on the intervening night of August 29-30 under Civil Lines police station limits. His head was found smashed with a stone, police said. Mangal Ahirwar, watchman at a house, was killed in Moti Nagar area on the intervening night of August 30-31 after being attacked with a stick.?

(With PTI inputs)