Delhi: Murder-cum-dacoity accused held after absconding for 16 years

A man wanted in a murder-cum-dacoity case in the Ranjeet Nagar area here was arrested from Indirapuram in Ghaziabad after remaining absconding for 16 years, an official said on Monday.

The accused, identified as Rampreet Kamat (40), a native of Supol in Bihar, was declared a proclaimed offender by a court in 2010, and a bounty of Rs 5,000 was announced on his arrest, he said.

According to the police, on October 30, 2009, when the complainant, Amarjeet Singh Kharbanda, returned to his house in Ranjeet Nagar, he found his wife murdered and the house ransacked.

Police said the probe revealed the role of Kamat and his associates in the murder and robbery. While others were apprehended earlier, Kamat fled and remained on the run for over a decade.

Acting on a tip-off, a team tracked the accused to Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

“Kamat had not visited his native village in Bihar for years, fearing arrest. Instead, he had been living in the Indirapuram area, working as a house painter,” the officer added.

The team lured him on the pretext of a painting job in a nearby flat and apprehended him from Abhay Khand in Indirapuram.

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During interrogation, Kamat confessed to his involvement in the murder-cum-dacoity. He revealed that at the time of the incident, he lived in Delhi’s Todapur with his associates.

After the crime, when his co-accused were arrested, he escaped to Bihar and later shifted to Ghaziabad to avoid detection.