Man who axed room-mate to death arrested after 25 years

On February 6, 2000, the accused, identified as Satish Yadav, is alleged to have hacked to death his roommate, Sajan Singh, with an axe in Delhi.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch solved a 25-year-old murder case by arresting a 60-year-old man from Bihar’s Darbhanga district, where the raiding team faced resistance from a mob of locals, who created chaos and tried to help the suspect escape, officers aware of the development said on Tuesday.

The accused was arrested from Bihar’s Darbhanga district. (Representational/HT Photo)

On February 6, 2000, the accused, identified as Satish Yadav, is alleged to have hacked to death his roommate, Sajan Singh, with an axe at their rented room in north Delhi’s Roop Nagar, after the victim had slapped him during an altercation over food expense accounts a day before. Yadav, who was 35 at the time of the crime, fled the scene immediately and continued to evade the police for more than 25 years by moving across West Bengal, Assam and Bihar, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Pankaj Kumar.

Then, in the aftermath of the murder, a third roommate, identified as Ajay alias Sunil, 19, had apprised the police about the accused. All three worked in a factory in the locality.

According to the case details recorded by the police, Ajay told the police that on February 5, Singh and Yadav had quarrelled over food expense accounts, during which Singh slapped him. The next morning, Singh was found murdered and Yadav was missing, leading Ajay to suspect him of killing Singh in revenge. A murder case was registered but Yadav could not be traced, the police said.

DCP Kumar said that while working on unsolved cases, the crime branch team came across the murder case and began looking into it. They examined the case files and mounted technical surveillance that pinpointed the suspect to his village in Ramoli of Bihar’s Darbhanga district. His presence and details were further cross-verified physically.

“Based on specific information and technical surveillance, a raiding party reached the village on Sunday to arrest Yadav. During the raid, villagers gathered and created chaos and tried to flee the accused from the spot, but the team tactfully managed the situation and successfully arrested the accused. He has been brought back to Delhi. The efforts yielded in bringing justice and landmark achievement by solving the murder case after 25 years proving that justice cannot be denied,” DCP Kumar said.