41-year-old held in 2004 abduction, murder case

The main accused was found selling “chhole bhature” at a stall in Mainpuri of Uttar Pradesh last Friday, following which police, posing as mango vendors, verified his identity and arrested him

A 41-year-old man was held in connection with the abduction and murder of a 45-year-old business rival for ransom in Shalimar Bagh around 20 years ago, in an incident that garnered public spotlight in 2004, police said. The main accused was found selling “chhole bhature” at a stall in Mainpuri of Uttar Pradesh last Friday, following which police, posing as mango vendors, verified his identity and arrested him.

The accused used an anaesthetic-filled spray to make the victim unconscious and then stabbed him with a knife. (Representative photo/Getty Images)

Police identified the accused as Sipahi Lal, 41, who was 21 years old at the time of the crime. They said he changed his name to Gurdayal to evade police.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Rakesh Paweriya said the accused and his four associates, Mukesh Vats, Shareef Khan, Kamlesh Kumar and Rajesh Kumar, abducted cereal businessman Ramesh Gupta, a resident of Shalimar Bagh, for ransom. However, they killed him before they could make the ransom call.

They used an anaesthetic-filled spray to make him unconscious and then stabbed him with a knife. “They stabbed the body multiple times to ensure that he died and dumped his body in a drain in Karala,” Paweriya said.

The victim left his house on October 31, 2004, but did not return, following which his family lodged a complaint and a case of abduction was registered. The family suspected Mukesh Vats, a fruit and vegetable trader, who had a business rivalry with the victim.

Police, in their initial probe, found Gutpa’s car in Bahadurgarh. “The local police traced and interrogated Vats, who broke down and confessed his involvement in the crime along with his associates,” Paweriya said.

Vats lured Gupta on the pretext of a meeting and the group abducted him for ransom, police said.

After Vats, two more accused, Shareef Khan and Kamlesh Kumar, were arrested from Karala village. However, Lal and Rajesh Kumar could not be arrested and were declared proclaimed offenders by a Delhi court in 2005. The accused were awarded life imprisonment by the court.

After receiving a tip about Lal’s whereabouts over the past few weeks, an assistant sub-inspector disguised himself as a mango vendor and started selling his goods at the Ramleela ground in Mainpuri, where the suspect was selling “chhole bhature” under the name “Mama Bhanja Chhole Bhature”, an investigator said.