New Delhi:The crime branch of Delhi Police on Saturday said that they have arrested a 50-year-old man, who was evading his arrest for the past 11 years in a case of contract killing that occurred in Tilak Nagar area of west Delhi in 2013.
Identified as Raju Banarsi alias Raju Singh aka Mritunjay Singh, he was arrested from a dense forested region of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand border where he had been living using a different name and identity, officers said.
The killing was executed on the instructions of the victim’s brother Rajesh Singh Lamba over a property dispute, with the mastermind paying ₹10 lakh to six contract killers. Five of them were arrested few days after the killing, the sixth accused, Banarsi, had been absconding since the crime took place, the police said.
According to Sanjay Sain, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (crime), a case of murder was registered in 2013 in connection with the killing of Jitender Lamba, who was shot dead in Tilak Nagar area. Police investigation revealed that it was a contract killing executed by six people on the directions of Rajesh.
“He had given the contract to Ravinder Rathi, a resident of Jhajjar in Haryana. Rathi roped in Mukesh Kumar Soni, who further included Raju Banarsi and three other people. The pistol used in the crime was arranged by Banarsi. While five killers were arrested, Banarsi evaded the law and was declared a proclaimed offender by a city court in 2014. A reward of ₹50,000 was also announced on his arrest,” the DCP added.
The crime branch’s inter-state team recently got a clue about the suspect when it found the phone number of his distant relative in Jharkhand. The analysis of the phone number showed that it was operational only for a few minutes a day. The location of the number was constantly showing in the forest area of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand border, the officer said.
“The team members reached the location and started working as labourers with local labourers to get access in the forested area smoothly as it was difficult to find the person in such a dense forest. During their stay, the team members developed their sources and laid a tactful and strategic trap which finally led to the arrest of the accused, who was working as a truck driver the forested area,” said the DCP.
Banarsi’s interrogation revealed that after the killing, he had fled to Varanasi and then to Palamu in Jharkhand. Thereafter, he started living as “Mritunjay Singh”. He purchased a truck and became a truck driver. As he was aware that his all other co-accused have been arrested and a reward had been declared upon him, he chose to hide in the forest areas so that these areas would prove not less than a boon for him, the officer added.
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