Man held for killing woman 12 years ago in Delhi

New Delhi: The Delhi police Crime Branch has arrested a wanted criminal from Southwest Delhi’s Dwarka area. The accused was a proclaimed offender in a sensational robbery-cum-murder case of a 65-year-old woman reported at Vikaspuri area in 2004. He was absconding for the last 12 years.

The police on Saturday said that the accused, after the incident, absconded to Nepal and was declared a proclaimed offender by the local court. The accused was identified as Raju alias Painter alias Raj Kishore alias Pramod (33), a resident of Araria district in Bihar and presently residing in Dwarka, Delhi.

On Monday, information was received by the Crime Branch that the accused, who is presently living somewhere in Sector-16-A, Dwarka under the name of Pramod Pandit, would be visiting the Metro Bridge in Sector-16-A. The team laid a trap near the expected place and on his arrival, he was successfully apprehended.

During the interrogation, the accused disclosed that he, along with his associates had killed the victim.

In the intervening night of January 25-26, 2004, accused Raju, along with his associates Dharmender, Arun Kumar, and Vikas Yadav, had killed Indira Devi (65) in her DDA flats at Vikaspuri, who was living alone in her flat. They had robbed cash and jewellery from her house. Raju was a small-time civil contractor by profession and was hired by the deceased for a painting job in her flat. He deputed Dharmender, Arun Kumar, and Vikas Yadav for this work. Finding that the victim was living alone in the flat and her only daughter was settled abroad, the accused persons hatched a conspiracy to loot her, thinking that there might be huge cash and jewellery in her house.

According to their plan, in the intervening night, the accused persons tied the victim’s hands and legs and strangulated her. There-after, they robbed the cash and jewellery from her house and also removed the jewellery from her body.