Noida: Murder suspect held after 16 years of chase

Sixteen years after he went on the run, a 45-year-old Bihar-based man, wanted for killing a two-year-old boy by electrocution in Noida’s Sector 66, was arrested on Monday, said senior police officers, adding that the suspect was caught with the help of his neighbourhood adversaries.

“On July 10, 2009, Sanjay allegedly electrocuted the two-year-old boy in Mamura area of Sector 66 and also forcefully threw him to the ground,” said Sumit Shukla, additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP), Noida.

On a complaint by the boy’s father, a case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Sector 58 police station. “The boy’s father had alleged that Sanjay, who then resided in the neighbourhood and worked as an electrician, was in an illicit relationship with his wife and frequently visited his home. When he protested and warned Sanjay to stay away from his family, Sanjay killed his toddler son and escaped,” said Shukla.

“In the past 16 years, various station house officers (SHOs) posted at Sector 58 police station sent multiple teams to his home town in Champaran. But he always got to know about the team’s arrival in his village beforehand and would slip away to Nepal, which is nearly 15-20km from his home. He would work as a daily wager for a year or two in Nepal,” said an officer associated with the investigation, asking not to be named.

“Later, the police got him declared a proclaimed offender and sealed his house . Finally, we decided to try a different method; we found out his adversaries near his home town and through them, we tried to find him,” said the officer.

A few days ago, police were alerted by these adversaries that Sanjay had returned to Bihar, and a team from Noida tracked him down and arrested him.

On Monday, he was produced before the court and sent to jail. “We are contacting the deceased boy’s family, who left Noida, for further legal proceedings,” said Shukla.