Ex-Navy man wanted for Delhi murder in 2004 fakes his death, arrested 19 yrs on

For 19 years, Balesh Kumar, a west Delhi resident, was believed to have been killed in a truck fire in 2004, 18 days after he absconded from a murder scene

In a bid to escape arrest in a murder case, a 63-year-old Delhi man faked his own death for almost two decades -- by allegedly burning to death two unsuspecting labourers in a truck that belonged to his brother, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in May, 2004.

Balesh Kumar had changed his name to “Aman Singh” and had also managed to procure fake IDs to support this new life. (HT Photo)

It took a long time, but the ruse was finally over late last month, when he was arrested by the Delhi Police.

For 19 years, Balesh Kumar, a west Delhi resident, was believed to have been killed in a truck that caught fire in 2004, 18 days after he absconded from a murder scene in Delhi. Police said that he had changed his name to “Aman Singh” and had also managed to procure fake IDs to support this new life.

Not only did Kumar start his life afresh after feigning death, he also managed to bring his wife and their two children to live with him in outer Delhi’s Najafgarh 2011 onwards.

Ravindra Singh Yadav, special commissioner of police (crime branch) said, “Once his wife realised that enough time had passed and chances of him getting caught were low, she moved in with him, along with the children. While he had assumed a new identity, the wife and children maintained their original identity.” 

On September 13, crime branch sub-inspector Mahak Singh received a tip-off about a murder accused living in hiding in Najafgarh. “Once it was clear that Aman Singh was actually Balesh Kumar, who was believed to be dead, we carried out a raid at his Najafgarh home on the afternoon of September 28,” said Yadav.

Kumar was arrested, and a case was registered at the crime branch police station under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to cheating, impersonation, criminal conspiracy and forgery, among others.

“The revelations have resulted in the Jodhpur police reopening investigations into the truck fire in which two people had been killed. It had earlier been passed off as accidental fire,” said Ravindra Singh Yadav, special commissioner of police (crime branch).

Balesh Kumar in 2004. He joined the Indian Navy as a steward in 1981 and took voluntary retirement in 1996. (HT Photo)

Special CP Yadav said that the role of Kumar’s wife and other family members is also being probed. “The police will investigate if his wife and others helped him carry out the murders,” he said.

Preliminary investigations suggest that Kumar hired two labourers from outer Delhi’s Samaypur Badli on April 30, 2004, and drove them to Jodhpur in his brother’s truck -- on the pretext of some loading and unloading work. “In Jodhpur, the labourers were offered liquor with their meals on May 1. Once the two was inebriated, Kumar doused the truck’s cabin with petrol, and set it on fire. There was a lot of cardboard in the truck, which caused the fire to spread quickly. The labourers were charred to death inside,” said Yadav.

When the incident came to light, the Dangiyawas police station in Jodhpur initiated inquest proceedings but no first information report (FIR) was registered, said Yadav. “The truck’s registration number helped track down the owner, Mahiner Singh, the accused’s brother. The family identified one of the charred bodies as Kumar’s and the other remained unidentified,” said Yadav.

The role of Kumar’s brother and father, too is being probed, said the officer.

Police in Jodhpur are now staring at an uphill task -- of tracking down the families of the two labourers brutally killed in the truck in 2004. Kumar claims that he only knew their first name, Manoj and Mukesh. “He said that he knows nothing about their families or addresses,” said Yadav.

Who is Balesh Kumar?

Kumar joined the Indian Navy as a steward in 1981 and took voluntary retirement in 1996. After that, he began living with his family in Uttam Nagar, worked different jobs, and was once accused of being involved in a burglary case, with his late father Chander Bhan, said police.

On the night of April 18, 2004, Kumar, along with his brother Sunder Lal, allegedly strangled to death their 35-year-old friend, Khushi Ram, in Bawana in outer Delhi, over an argument. “They were all drinking that night, and Ram accused Kumar of having an extramarital affair with his wife. Kumar and his brother strangulated Ram and dumped his body in a field in Bawana,” said Yadav.

While Lal was arrested, Kumar escaped and allegedly plotted how to pass himself off as dead in a bid to start afresh. Police said that that’s when he came up with the truck idea, and hired the two unsuspecting men, and allegedly killed them in a truck in Jodhpur.

Police said that Kumar managed to get his personal insurance and his pension from his job credited to his wife Santosh’s account. “He even managed to get the insurance of the burnt truck, and the amount was credited to his wife’s account,” said Yadav.

“We have asked various agencies, including the insurance firm, for details to determine how he managed to do this,” Yadav said.

For 19 years, Kumar tried all kinds of tricks to remain unrecognisable -- a fake Aadhaar card, a fake voter ID, a fake driver’s licence, new hairstyles, and a beard.

Police said that he worked as a truck driver in Jalandhar and Panipat for several years while he was on the run. In 2011, he settled down in Najafgarh and started work as a property consultant. “After we arrested Kumar, his wife absconded. We have applied for a non-bailable warrant against her,” Yadav said. This suggests to the police that she may have been in contact with him. His other brother, Sunder Lal, meanwhile, was acquitted in the Bawana murder of Ram, the police said.