New Delhi: For nearly 32 years, a robber who had allegedly strangled to death two sadhvis in an east Delhi ashram remained at large. On Friday, when police finally caught him in Mangolpuri, he was working as a packaging labourer.
In 1994, Lalit, then allegedly part of a gang that had entered the ashram with the intention to rob it, disappeared after the crime and managed to duck the police radar for decades. A murder and dacoity case was registered at Shakarpur police station under sections 396 (dacoity with murder), 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. By Oct 1995, a court had declared him a proclaimed offender. Police said Lalit remained in Bihar till 2000.
Special CP (crime) HGS Dhaliwal said the two sadhvis, who used to live in the ashram, were strangled during a robbery. Police said he later received cash and jewellery as his share of the loot. The robbers fled with cash, jewellery and other valuables. Lalit was allegedly one of the members of the group who had strangled the two women. Sunil Kumar, Dilip Ram and Sushil were arrested during the investigation, but Lalit managed to remain at large. But that was only the beginning of a decades-long cat-and-mouse chase. He moved to Delhi after that and took up jobs as a packaging labourer at various manufacturing units. The trail brought investigators to Mangolpuri Phase-II, northwest Delhi. After a discreet verification, the team located Lalit inside a factory. The man who had eluded the police net for more than three decades was finally taken into custody.