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Absconding for 11 years, key accused in Lucknow realtor’s murder arrested in Raipur
Police said Singh had remained absconding even when eight of the co-accused in the case, including a woman police constable, were convicted and given life imprisonment by a Lucknow court in January 2017. The Lucknow police had also declared a reward of ₹1 lakh for information leading to Singh’s capture.
A dreaded criminal who was wanted in the kidnapping and murder of a Lucknow realtor 16 years ago, was arrested in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. Rajesh Singh, 52, disappeared after he got bail in the case in 2011.
Police said Singh had remained absconding even when eight of the co-accused in the case, including a woman police constable, were convicted and given life imprisonment by a Lucknow court in January 2017. The Lucknow police had also declared a reward of ₹1 lakh for information leading to Singh’s capture.
Lucknow deputy commissioner of police (East) Prachi Singh said Rajesh was arrested from near the Raipur railway station where he had been living since the past few years under an assumed identity as Ramesh Singh.
She said Rajesh was the key accused in the kidnapping and murder of Lok Nath Singh, a resident of Vishal Khand in Gomti Nagar who disappeared under mysterious circumstances on January 11, 2007. Lok Nath Singh had entered the real estate business after taking retirement from the air force.
Sharing further details about the case, another police official said the disappearance of the property dealer was reported at the Gomti Nagar police station, but the kidnapping angle was probed after a letter surfaced demanding a ransom of ₹30 lakh after two weeks of Lok Nath’s disappearance. He said the family paid the ransom for safe release of Lok Nath but the latter did not return after which he was considered to have been killed.
He said another key accused Mohd Nisar was killed in a police encounter in Gomti Nagar on March 1, 2007. Later, Rajesh and his aide Vaibhav Singh were arrested on April 5, 2002 in the matter. He said eight more accused, woman constable Rita Pandey, Jung Bahadur Yadav alias Jungi, Ram Sakal Yadav, Dhurandhar, Salim Ahmad alias Guddu, Mohd Raees, Monu Pandey and Vibhuti Narain Singh, were arrested subsequently in the case. He said the accused had revealed that they murdered the property dealer after making him write the letter, and disposed his body in a river in Ghazipur district.
He said eight accused, other than Rajesh and Vaibhav, were awarded life imprisonment thereafter. The trial of Rajesh Singh was separated as he went absconding in 2011.
