UP STF arrests Budaun murder accused from Punjab after 5 years on the run

The officials added that the father-son duo allegedly shot Sharma dead and fled to Dehradun after the crime.

An accused in a Budaun murder case, who had escaped from police custody nearly five years ago, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) in Ludhiana, Punjab, on Monday, senior police officials said in a press note on Tuesday. A reward of ₹50,000 had been announced for his arrest.

During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Shashank Bajaj contracted the virus and was admitted to a hospital, from where he escaped and had been absconding ever since. (FOR REPRESENTATION)

Sharing further details, STF officials informed that the fugitive, identified as Shashank Bajaj (34), along with his father Desh Deepak Bajaj, was accused of murdering their neighbour Subash Chandra Sharma in Budaun on May 1, 2015, following a monetary dispute. The officials added that the father-son duo allegedly shot Sharma dead and fled to Dehradun after the crime.

An STF official said the father-son duo was arrested in Dehradun just days after the incident and initially lodged in jail there before being transferred to Budaun jail, and later to Pilibhit jail in 2019. He added that in 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Shashank Bajaj contracted the virus and was admitted to a hospital, from where he escaped and had been absconding ever since.

He said the STF had been monitoring the movements of absconding accused and reward-listed criminals. Acting on intelligence inputs, a team led by sub-inspector Akshay PK Tyagi, under the supervision of Raj Kumar Mishra, additional superintendent of police, STF Field Unit Noida, and Navendu Kumar, deputy superintendent of police, STF Noida, tracked down the accused and arrested him near Sahnewal–Dewal Road under Sahnewal police station limits in Ludhiana, Punjab.