A 41-year-old man, who was allegedly involved in the abduction and murder of a Delhi-based cereal trader 20 years ago on the day of Karwa Chauth, was arrested by the Delhi Police from Uttar Pradesh, an officer on Tuesday.
According to police, the accused, originally Sipahi Lal, had since changed his name, and when he was caught, he was running a chhole-bhature cart in UP's Mainpuri.
Besides the two decades' wait, an elaborate stakeout, which involved a policeman impersonating a mangoes seller, went into the arrest of Sipahi Lal, who allegedly tortured and stabbed a Delhi trader at the behest of his employer.
"The incident dates back to October 31, 2004. It was Karwa Chauth. The main accused along with four of his associates abducted cereal trader Ramesh Gupta for ransom. The accused, however, could not make a call for the ransom and killed him after spraying paint on his face multiple times and stabbing," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rakesh Paweriya said.
The officer said that it was a gruesome murder since Gupta was stabbed multiple times till he was dead.
In 2004, on the day of Karwa Chauth, Shakarpur resident Ramesh Chand Gupta left his house in his car for some work, but did not return.
"His family members made several calls on his mobile phone but there was no response," the DCP said.
His brother Jagdish Kumar lodged a complaint of abduction at Shalimar Bagh Police Station and named Mukesh Vats, a local fruits and vegetables trader, as someone who could be behind Gupta's disappearance.
"A team recovered the car of the victim on November 2, 2004 at Bahadurgarh CIA Police, but he (Gupta) was still missing. Meanwhile, another team arrested Mukesh Vats, who confessed his involvement in the crime," the DCP said.
Vats told police that he along with his associates, Sipahi Lal, Shareef Khan, Kamlesh, and Rajesh had abducted Ramesh Gupta for ransom.
Vats was a vegetable trader at Azadpur Mandi and the four others were his employees.
On the day of Karwa Chauth, he called Gupta for a meeting and took him to a room in Karala Village, the police officer said.
"In the room, they all tortured him by spraying paint on his face. When Gupta fainted, they stabbed him multiple times. After ensuring he was dead, they packed his body in a gunny bag and dumped it in a drain in Karala village," the DCP said.
Mukesh, Shareef Khan, and Kamlesh were arrested from Karala village and the body was recovered later at their instance, he said.
All this while, Sipahi Lal and Rajesh remained at large and were declared proclaimed offenders by a city court. It was going to be 20 years before Sipahi Lal would be nabbed.
After investigation, a charge sheet was filed against Mukesh Vats, Shareef Khan, and Kamlesh and the city court awarded them life imprisonment.
Sipahi Lal's luck ran out when a policeman received a tip-off about him being active in UP with a changed name.
"Our teams were working to trace the accused and one of our policemen, ASI Sonu Nain, received secret information that accused Sipahi Lal was hiding somewhere in Mainpuri," the officer said.
Police found that Sipahi Lal was selling chhole-bhature on the Ramleela Ground of Mainpuri, and a stakeout was set up.
"To trace his movement and activities, ASI Nain also started selling mangoes in the same area and nabbed him after two days. Lal was disguising as one 'Gurdayal Chhole Wala'," said the DCP.
Hunt is still on for Rajesh, the officer said.
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