66-yr-old murder convict on run for 44 years traced in Surat
Surat Police on Thursday detained a 66-year-old man, who had been on the run for the last 44 years in connection to a murder that took place at Bhadohi district in Uttar Pradesh in 1979. He was later handed over to the Uttar Pradesh Police.
The police said that since the last few days, they were was keeping watch on a house at Shashtrinagar in Pandesara’s Vadod area, looking for Jawahar Ramnath Rajswarup (66), a native of Pargaspur village in Bhadohi. On Thursday, they picked up Jawahar from the house where he stayed with his sons Dinesh and Ganesh.
Pandesara police said that Jawahar was involved in the murder of a person named Maridai Gautam at his native place. Jawahar, along with his father Ramnath, brothers Chakoli and Ramchandra as well as cousin Nanku Rajswarup, were named as accused in the murder FIR.
All the accused were arrested and were later released on bail by court. When the trial began, they were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Bhadohi court. While the Bhadohi police arrested Ramnath, Chakoli, Nanku and Ramchandra, Jawahar fled and came to Gujarat.
Pandesara Police Inspector N K Kamariya said, “Jawahar used to stay in Surat with his wife and two sons. Believing that the police may come to his house in Pandesara, Jawahar shifted to Umargam and later to Valsad alone and started working in the factories. He stayed alone and identified himself as ‘Lalji Ramnath Patel’.”
He added, “While Ramnath, Chakoli and Ramchandra died in jail, Nanku was recently released after completing his jail term. We received information from UP Police that Nanku may meet Jawahar in Surat. We kept watch at his house and caught him on Thursday. We handed him over to the UP Police in the evening.”
