Delhi: Proclaimed offender arrested after running for 9 years in Rs 52 lakh dacoity case

A 55-year-old man, declared a proclaimed offender in a 2017 dacoity case involving Rs 52.5 lakh, where he posed as police personnel, has been arrested after evading arrest for nearly nine years, police said on Monday.

The accused, Rajesh Dawar alias Rajeev, a resident of Uttam Nagar, had been on the run since 2017 and was wanted in a case registered at Malviya Nagar police station. He had also been declared a proclaimed offender by a court in connection with the case, they said.

Dawar also tried to mislead the police by producing fake medical documents under someone’s name, claiming partial paralysis due to an injury, they said.

According to the police, the case dates back to July 10, 2017, when a property dealer, Rajesh Kumar, was allegedly lured into a fraudulent land deal in Panchsheel Vihar, after he and his partners were told to bring Rs 50 lakh as token money for a plot worth Rs 1.70 crore.

“When the complainant and his associates reached the location with Rs 52.5 lakh, they were taken to an office nearby where seven to eight men, posing as police personnel, assaulted them at gunpoint,” a senior police officer said.

Dawar accused them of illegal currency exchange, snatched their phones and car keys, and decamped with the cash, the officer said, adding that he later abandoned the victims near Select City Mall while he fled with the money.

The police registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC and the Arms Act and arrested eight accused persons during the investigation. However, Dawar had remained absconding since then, police said.

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Acting on a tip-off, police traced Dawar to the Jahangirpuri area in northwest Delhi and apprehended him on April 26, the officer said.

During initial questioning, the accused tried to mislead the police by identifying himself as Rashid Khan and produced medical documents under the same name, claiming partial paralysis due to an injury.

“On sustained interrogation, he revealed his true identity as Rajesh Dawar and confessed to his involvement in the 2017 dacoity case,” the officer said, adding that his original Aadhaar and PAN cards were recovered.

Police said Dawar had been living in Jahangirpuri under a false identity and working at a mobile phone shop to sustain himself while evading arrest.

A graduate by qualification, he allegedly came into contact with criminal elements around 2015 and developed a drug addiction, which led to his involvement in the crime, police added.