17 years after murder, man held from Uttarakhand

The accused allegedly assaulted his colleagues Nagendra Kumar and Rakshak Pal with a heavy iron rod on the premises of a private school

Seventeen years after a murder over an altercation at a private school in Sector 31, the prime suspect in the case was arrested from Bageshwar of Uttarakhand on Saturday. He was living on a different identity there, police said.

Police said Mehta was working as a bus conductor in the school and fought with the duo over a petty issue (Representational image)

The accused, Kamal Singh Mehta, 48, allegedly assaulted his colleagues Nagendra Kumar and Rakshak Pal with a heavy iron rod on the premises of a private school in Sector 31 on September 13, 2007. Kumar had succumbed to the injuries.

Police said Mehta was working as a bus conductor in the school and fought with the duo over a petty issue. Police said the duo was asleep when Mehta had hit them on their heads.

Investigators said that the officials were going through the files of proclaimed offenders as the Model Code of Conduct is in force, when they found that Mehta was on the run for phe last 16 years and seven months, carrying a reward of ₹5,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Police said he fled the city after the incident, hid in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, and returned to his native place, where he worked as a driver and stayed separately from his family.

“Crime branch sleuths camped at his village for a week and tried to seek information from Mehta’s family but they were hostile. They managed to get his contact number from a villager. They contacted him to reach the local police station for 10 minutes saying someone was injured from his car,” he said.

The officer said that Mehta was arrested when he reached the police station.

Sandeep Kumar, Gurugram police public relations officer, said the Sector 40 crime branch unit headed by inspector Naveen Kumar brought him back and after questioning, he was lodged in judicial custody on Sunday.