Delhi: Man held after 26 years for kidnapping, murdering 8-year-old

A man convicted of kidnapping and murdering an eight-year-old boy in 1993 has been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police after evading law for over 26 years, an official said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Raj Kishore (55) alias Bade Lalla, a resident of Kanpur Dehat in Uttar Pradesh, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 for the brutal murder of a businessman’s son.

“He was later granted a six-week parole by the Delhi High Court in 1999 but he never returned to prison,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.

Also Read: Shop owner shot at by former tenant in southeast Delhi

The officer further mentioned that after several years of evasion and being declared a proclaimed offender in 2014, Kishore was finally apprehended from Ghaziabad’s Khoda Colony on August 2.

According to the police, the incident occurred on December 28, 1993, when Kishore and his associate abducted the son of a garment factory owner from Kalyanpuri.

The accused then demanded a ransom of Rs 30,000 from the child’s father, promising the boy’s safe return. However, after receiving the money, the accused strangled the child and dumped his body in a drain in the Kalyanpuri area, the police said.

“The case was registered at the Kalyanpuri Police Station. Following investigation and trial, Raj Kishore was convicted and sentenced to life by the Karkardooma Sessions Court in 1996,” said the DCP.

Kishore was lodged in Tihar jail when he jumped parole in 1999, following which he kept changing his location to evade arrest. He stayed in Patna for four years, lived in Jaipur for nearly 13 years, and then shifted to Barnala in Punjab for another three years. During this time, he worked odd jobs and kept a low profile, occasionally visiting his native village in Kanpur Dehat, the police said.

“It was only during the COVID-19 pandemic that he returned to Kanpur permanently and started a tailoring business under a new identity,” the DCP added.

The officer further mentioned that a crime branch team was tasked to track down parole jumpers involved in heinous crimes. The team gathered information about Kishore’s presence in Kanpur. Several attempts were made to nab him in Kanpur, but local support helped him escape each time.

“After strategic planning, the police managed to lure him out of his hideout and arrested him in Ghaziabad,” the officer added.

The arrest came after a two-month-long operation involving over 10 personnel, the police said, noting that Kishore’s associate in the 1993 crime had already completed his sentence.