Delhi: Murder convict jumps Covid parole, murders girlfriend; nabbed after two years

Special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Singh Yadav said that Deepak had earlier been arrested in a kidnapping and murder case of April 2010

More than two years after he murdered his girlfriend in a hotel room in outer Delhi and jumped parole granted during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic, Deepak (known by his first name) has been arrested from north-west Delhi’s Mangolpuri on March 30, officers of the Delhi Police crime branch, who tracked and nabbed the suspect, said on Saturday.

Deepak killed his girlfriend, Chanchal, at a hotel room in Sultanpur and stabbed her to death. He had been convicted in a 2010 kidnapping and murder case. (HT Photo)

According to officers, Deepak had been declared a proclaimed offender after he jumped parole in the December 2020 murder of his girlfriend, Chanchal , 30. The police had declared a reward of ₹50,000 on his arrest.

Special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Singh Yadav said that Deepak had earlier been arrested in a kidnapping and murder case of April 2010, and added that the suspect allegedly committed the crime to earn enough money so that he could marry his girlfriend. “However, he came out of jail on parole in April 2020 when hundreds of prisoners were released to avoid congestion in the jail to avoid spread of Covid-19 pandemic. After being released , he came to know that his girlfriend had already married another person. Then, he planned to take revenge and murdered her in December 2020,” the special commissioner said.

Yadav gave separate details of each case.

”On January 5, 2010, a case of kidnapping for ransom, murder, and robbery, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy was registered at Rohini South police station on a complaint by a doctor, Shrimal Roy. The complainant’s son, Raju Roy, a Class 12 student at a private school in Rohini, went missing from near house along with his Hyundai Santro car on January 4. Three days later, his body with nearly 35 stab wounds was found inside the boot of the car that was parked on NH-1 near Gharonda village in Karnal in Haryana,” Yadav said about the first case.

“Deepak and his four associates were arrested in that case. Deepak told interrogators that he was in a relationship with a woman and in order to fulfil her demands, he kidnapped the doctor’s son and demanded ₹20 lakh for his safe release. When their ransom demands were not fulfilled, the five brutally killed the boy and put his body in his car’s boot. They had also withdrawn some money from his bank account,” Yadav added.

A Delhi court convicted Deepak and sentenced him to rigorous life imprisonment. Nearly 10 years later, he was released from jail on parole in August 2020, Yadav said.

“After his release from jail, Deepak learnt that his girlfriend, allegedly from whom he committed the crime has another person. So, he decided to kill her,” he said.

“On December 3, 2020, he lured the 30-year-old woman to a hotel in Sultanpuri where he stabbed her in the throat multiple times with a knife, killing her on the spot. Then, he fled the hotel. The woman’s body was found in the bathroom by the hotel staff, who informed the police. A case of murder was registered at the Sultanpuri police station. However, the case could not be solved as the accused was not arrested,” Yadav added.

Investigators said that they had been tracking Deepak and got information that he would be coming to Mangolpuri on March 30. Accordingly, a crime branch team arrested Deepak the same day.

Deepak told the police that he fled Delhi after murdering his girlfriend and was hiding in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh under different identities to evade arrest, Yadav said.