Gangtok, Nov. 12: Dawa Karma Lepcha, one of the accused in the Nagpal case, today surrendered before the chief judicial magistrate after eluding the police dragnet for more than four years.

Lepcha, who has been accused of illegally adopting Vyas Rai Nagpal, son of Gulshan Nagpal, a Delhi-based businessman, was immediately remanded in judicial custody.

Though the police had issued an arrest warrant against the duo — Dawa and Gulshan — Dawa was absconding since April 1998.

Police have charged Gulshan with illegally getting a tribal certificate issued in the name of his son Vyas from the subdivisional magistrate’s office in Gangtok so the boy could enjoy the special benefits that a tribal is entitled to.

The crafty businessman had also managed to get his son’s name changed to Vyas Lepcha as the records of the Kendriya Vidyalaya, where the boy was studying, show. A Sikkim police team, which went to Delhi in search of Gulshan, where he lives, drew a blank.

A similar case is also pending against him before the sessions court here.

The accused had allegedly managed to get his other son, Eklavya, adopted by another tribal, Sonam Thinley Bhutia. Gulshan had taken out a tribal certificate from the SDM’s office at Geyzing, the West district headquarters. The boy’s name was also changed to Eklavya Bhutia, according to the Kendriya Vidyalaya records.