Murder accused who had changed his identity, tracked and nabbed

The police, disguised as commoners, kept a close watch on him and arrested him after confirming his identity, the police said

MUMBAI: A 27-year-old murder accused, who had been on the run for the past two years, was arrested in Ambernath on Wednesday. After the murder in 2023, he had fled to Ambernath and started living with a different identity. The police, disguised as commoners, kept a close watch on him and arrested him after confirming his identity, the police said.

He fled from Bhayander in 2023, after the murder, and went to Ambernath. He started living there with a changed identity. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to the police, the incident dates back to February 2023 in Bhayander, when the accused, Ramkesh Dudhnath Yadav, had stripped the victim Ritesh Rajendra Kawale, 25 years old then, tied his hands and feet, and had brutally beaten him with sticks and sharp weapons, leading to his death. After Kawale lost consciousness, Yadav fled the scene along with the weapons he had used, said a police officer.

Based on the complaint of a vegetable vendor from the locality, the Navghar police had registered a murder case against Yadav and started their probe, during which the Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar crime branch conducted a parallel investigation, making independent attempts to trace the absconding accused.

The crime branch police’s investigation had revealed that Yadav had relocated to Ambernath, where he started to live with a different identity. The police then kept a discreet watch on him, disguised as commoners, and after confirming it was Yadav, they arrested him on Wednesday.