On The Run For 26 Years, Man Wanted For Murder In Maharashtra's Bhiwandi, Nabbed In UP

The Thane city police arrested the accused, Vinodkumar Shyamlal Gupta, from Siddharth Nagar in Uttar Pradesh on April 22 with the help of the local police and UP Special Task Force.

A murder accused on the run for 26 years was finally arrested in Uttar Pradesh.

Source : ABPLIVE AI

A man wanted in connection with the murder of a powerloom owner in Maharashtra's Thane district in 1999 has been arrested from Uttar Pradesh, police said on Friday.

The Thane city police arrested the accused, Vinodkumar Shyamlal Gupta, from Siddharth Nagar in Uttar Pradesh on April 22 with the help of the local police and UP Special Task Force (STF), an official said.

He said Gupta (49) was running a medical shop in Parsahetim (Tarkulva) village, Dumriaganj.

The official said Gupta was allegedly involved in the kidnapping and murder of Jigar Mahendra Mehta, the owner of a powerloom factory in Bhiwandi, on May 29, 1999.

An FIR has been registered under sections 302 (murder), 363 (kidnapping), 387 (extortion), 397 (robbery) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

As per the case details, Mehta had been lured to his factory late at night after the power supply was deliberately cut off and was allegedly ambushed by Gupta, along with co-accused Raju Mehta alias Bishansingh Laxmansingh Sawat (still absconding), and Kamlesh Ramlakhan Upadhyaya, who was arrested in 1999.

The trio allegedly beat Mehta, injected him with a composite drug to render him unconscious, and robbed him of his gold chain, ring, and cash. They then slit his throat, killed him, and dumped his body on the outskirts of Thakurpada-Saravli.

Police said the accused made a ransom call from a public phone booth in Mumbai and demanded Rs 10 lakh, even though Mehta was already dead.

Senior Inspector Sanjay Shinde said over the past year, the investigating team intensified efforts and eventually received a tip-off about Gupta's location.

The accused had gone underground post-crime, avoiding mobile phones and frequently changing locations, and in January this year, he returned to his hometown. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)