Inmates on the run: growing menace of parole jumpers in Delhi

Delhi is confronting a troubling reality that sets it apart from the rest of the country. The national capital’s prisons, already stretched far beyond capacity, are facing a mounting challenge — convicts released on parole are increasingly failing to return.

According to data from the National Prisons Information Portal, Delhi has recorded the highest number of parole jumpers in India. The city’s jails have reported 167 such instances — the highest in the country — followed by Maharashtra with 99, a difference of nearly 69%.

Among those absconding are convicts serving time for some of the most serious crimes.

Killer father

In November 2016, Delhi witnessed a case that began with what seemed like an ordinary missing-person report but soon revealed a disturbing crime. A father, Ramjani, reported that his six-year-old stepdaughter, Khushbul, had gone missing but was later found by his nephew near Azadpur.

According to the police, Ramjani informed the duty officer that his wife, Sahana Khatoon, had travelled to their village in Darbhanga district, Bihar, to attend her sister Jubeda Khatoon’s wedding, taking their daughter along. His nephew Hasim, who lived near the Azadpur Metro Station, allegedly found the girl and brought her home before Sahana’s departure.

“The accused informed that his wife, Sahana Khatoon, had gone to attend her sister’s marriage in Darbhanga with daughter Khushbul. He said his nephew Hasim had brought the girl home at 2 PM, and his wife was to board the train at 6 PM. After dropping them at the station, he went to the police station to say his missing daughter had been found and no medical examination was required,” said Narender Singh, one of the officers involved in the case, in the Delhi High Court.

Multiple witnesses confirmed that Ramjani was the last person seen with Khushbul.

Ten days later, on November 17, 2016, Bhalswa Police Station received information about the discovery of a young girl’s body, aged around 4–5years, near the Bhalswa Dairy Jheel. The description matched that of the missing child.

Ramjani accompanied the police to the BJRM Hospital mortuary but denied that the body was his daughter’s, though he admitted the clothes were similar.

“I recorded his statement and asked him to produce his daughter. He claimed he could contact his wife, who would confirm that Khushbul was with her. He called her and handed me the phone. The woman, claiming to be Sahana, said the child was with her. She even allowed me to speak to a child who claimed to be Khushbul,” said Singh, the investigating officer.

However, when police checked the Darbhanga addresses provided by Ramjani, neither Sahana nor Khushbul was found.

According to the court’s findings, “The description of the dead body matched that of missing girl Khushbul. The accused denied it was his daughter, but the body was identified as Khushbul by her mother’s former husband, Jameer, and by Surender, the family’s landlord.”

Despite his repeated claims of innocence, Ramjani was convicted under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for the murder of his stepdaughter. His appeal in the Delhi High Court was also dismissed.

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At the start of this year, while on furlough for three weeks to reconcile with his family, Ramjani absconded. He failed to surrender on January 1, 2025, and has been missing ever since — nearly 300 days later, there is still no trace of him.

Capture of Doctor Death

A death row convict responsible for over 50 murders and at least 125 illegal kidney transplants was recently caught in Rajasthan, two years after absconding from parole, police confirmed.

Devender Kumar Sharma, 67, from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh — infamously known as Doctor Death — was granted two months’ parole on 9 June 2023 but never returned. He was traced to an ashram in Dausa, Rajasthan, where he lived as a priest under a false identity.

Sharma, an Ayurvedic doctor, turned to crime after incurring losses in his gas agency business. He admitted to facilitating 125 illegal kidney transplants between 1998 and 2004, charging about Rs 7,000 per surgery. He also led a gang that looted LPG trucks and taxis, murdering drivers and dumping their bodies in a crocodile-infested canal in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh. Police estimate he committed more than two dozen murders.

He was arrested in 2004 for the kidney racket and serial killings and sentenced to life imprisonment in seven separate cases across Delhi, Rajasthan, and Haryana, besides receiving a death sentence in one case.

How safe are we?

Despite such glaring lapses, prison authorities in the national capital appear unmoved. Tihar, Delhi’s primary Central Jail, is operating far beyond capacity, housing inmates from across India. The strain has made monitoring convicts on temporary release increasingly difficult.

Several prisoners, including some from Mandoli Jail’s high-risk ward, have been on the run for over 10,000 days — more than 23 years.

As parole jumpers vanish and oversight weakens, Delhi’s growing crisis raises a deeper question — if such convicts live among us, how safe are we really?