Ex-navy employee fakes death for 20 years after triple murder, arrested

Delhi Police Crime Branch apprehended a 60-year-old former Navy employee, Balesh Kumar, who had successfully faked his death for an astounding two decades. Kumar was arrested for his alleged involvement in a heinous crime: the murder of a relative and the horrifying burning of two laborers, police said.

According to police, the incident traces back to 2004 when Kumar, then running a transport business, purportedly killed his brother-in-law, Rajesh alias Khushiram, in Delhi’s Bawana area due to financial disputes and an illicit relationship with Rajesh’s wife.

While Kumar’s brother Sundar Lal was arrested in connection with the crime at the time, Kumar managed to evade capture. He fled to Rajasthan, where he not only burned his truck, resulting in the tragic deaths of two workers, but also staged his own death, fooling authorities and his own family, they said.

Under the alias Aman Singh, he resurfaced in Punjab, where he managed to forge new identity documents, all the while maintaining secret contact with his wife. During this period, he transferred his insurance and pension benefits to her, they added.

Eventually, Kumar relocated to Najafgarh, a locality in Delhi, where he lived with his family. Acting on a confidential tip-off, Delhi Police managed to track him down and arrest him from his residence, they further added.

During the subsequent interrogation, Kumar confessed to his involvement in the murder of his relative and the two laborers, said the police.

Notably, this is not Kumar’s only brush with the law. He was previously involved in a theft case, accused of stealing antique items from Delhi’s Kota House in the year 2000. Police are now actively investigating the roles played by Kumar’s wife and other family members in his criminal activities, with plans to prosecute them as well.

Balesh Kumar, a resident of Panipat, Haryana, had served in the Indian Navy as a Steward from 1981 to 1996 before retiring.

At the time of his arrest, he was working as a property dealer in Najafgarh. Delhi Police have informed their counterparts in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur about Kumar’s arrest, urging them to reopen the case related to the burned truck incident, adding another layer of complexity to this baffling saga. (With inputs from PTI)