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Hot pursuit, cold trail: Model still elusive; surrender on the cards?
10 teams and surveillance on 4 mobile numbers fail to pin down her location 8 days after bizman’s death
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Ten police teams, four tracked mobile numbers, non-bailable warrants and a ₹25,000 reward have so far failed to net model and social media influencer Shraddha Dubey. More than eight days after the death of Lucknow businessman Shiva Sharma, Dubey and her two accomplices remain out of reach, with cross-border leads into Nepal repeatedly hitting a dead end.
The trajectory of the manhunt suggests Dubey is consistently staying a step ahead of investigators. Police suspect she is frequently changing hideouts, vacating locations just before raiding teams arrive. In one instance, she reportedly slipped out of a suspected safe house in Nepal roughly four hours before police reached the spot.
While investigators have yet to officially establish how she is timing her escapes, officers are actively probing whether an insider or local network is tipping her off about police movements.
With the hunt yielding no decisive breakthrough, investigators are also assessing the possibility that Shraddha could surrender in the coming week. However, there is no official confirmation of any surrender plan.
“Our teams are constantly raiding all the possible hideouts. We are in regular touch with Nepal police who is helping us in the search,” said DCP (Central) Vikrant Vir.
No confirmed location
Lucknow police are using inputs from three Indian mobile numbers and one Nepalese number to trace Shraddha’s movements. Ten teams have been deployed, while investigators are attempting to reconstruct her movements across suspected locations in Nepal.
Yet the digital leads have not translated into a confirmed location or custody. A senior police officer said movement across different locations in Nepal had complicated the search.
Non-bailable warrants have been issued against Shraddha, her sister and their aide. Investigators are examining whether anyone is helping her evade arrest or passing on information about police movements. The suspected assistance, however, remains an investigative angle rather than an established fact.
Even as investigators struggle to trace her, Shraddha has attempted to put forward her version of events through selectively released videos. In a video that surfaced two days ago, she denied involvement in Sharma’s death and claimed that he had died by suicide. She also said she had sent his mobile phone and other information to the police, although officials have not confirmed receiving the material.
Her public claims, however, do not settle the questions investigators are pursuing. Police still need to establish her whereabouts, verify the material she claims to have shared and examine the circumstances surrounding Sharma’s death.
Surrender possibility on the radar
With the reward and warrants yet to produce a breakthrough, investigators are continuing to track leads in Nepal while examining whether Shraddha is receiving assistance. The possibility of a surrender in the coming week is also being considered, though no formal indication of such a move has been confirmed.
For now, the pursuit remains inconclusive: police have multiple leads but no verified location, while Shraddha has managed to put her version of events into the public domain without appearing before investigators.
THE HUNT IN NUMBERS
10: Police teams deployed to track the accused
04: Mobile numbers (3 Indian, 1 Nepalese) under surveillance
₹25,000: Reward announced for leads resulting in arrest
3: Accused facing non-bailable warrants (Shraddha, her sister, and an aide)
8+: Days since the death of businessman Shiva Sharma
