Fugitive in 26-year-old double murder case lands in Ludhiana police net

Raju of Raikot was given life sentence in 1996, jumped parole in 1999, and was declared proclaimed offender in 2017

After evading police scrutiny for 20 years, a proclaimed offender in a 26-year-old case of double murder finally landed in police net on Wednesday.

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Based on a tip-off, a team of crime branch conducted a raid in Jamalpur Nagar to arrest Raj Kumar Joshi, alias Raju, of Raikot.

Inspector Parveen Kumar said the accused had been in hiding for the last twenty years after jumping parole in 1999. He said Raju was arrested by Raikot police in 1993 in a case of double murder of Manjinder Singh and Jagdeep Singh, and a case under Section 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC had been registered against him on March 24, 1993.

Raju was sentenced to life imprisonment on September 9, 1996. “In 1999, Raj Kumar went on parole. He had filed an appeal in Punjab and Haryana high court against the life sentence order, but it was dismissed on May 5, 2005, and on May 8, 2017, Raju was declared a proclaimed offender (PO),” inspector Kumar said.

The inspector said in the last 20 years, Raju has not committed any crime, but further investigation is on.