Noida: Murder accused, on the run for the past 16 years, arrested

On December 5, 2008, Kurmi strangulated his wife after hitting her on the head with a pressure cooker, suspecting her of an illicit relationship. The incident was reported in Nagla Charan Dass area in Noida, Phase 2

After being on the run for 16 years, a man who allegedly murdered his wife after suspecting her of infidelity, in Noida’s Phase 2 locality in December 2008, was arrested on Monday from Amritsar in Punjab, senior police officers said, adding that the police had announced a reward of ₹25,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Kurmi had changed his appearance -- he wore his beard long and started wearing a turban to look like a Sardar. He moved to Amritsar in Punjab around three to four months ago and police finally traced him to the ashram where he was living. (Representational image)

“The suspect, Sanjay Kurmi, 55, hails from Nalanda in Bihar. He has been residing at an ashram in Amritsar, Punjab, for the past four months.” said Vindyachal Tiwari, station house officer, Phase 2.

“On December 5, 2008, Kurmi strangulated his wife after hitting her on the head with a pressure cooker, suspecting her of an illicit relationship. The incident was reported in Nagla Charan Dass area in Noida, Phase 2. He has been on the run since 2008,” said SHO Tiwari.

He further said, “Since then, we have been searching for him but he kept continuously changing his locations and mobile phone numbers. On June 2023, we managed to get his active mobile number. We were about to arrest him when he changed locations and numbers again.”

“Our team was continuously tracking the numbers and after recently, we traced him to Amritsar in Punjab,’ said Tiwari, adding that a team of Nodia police reached Amritsar and nabbed him on Monday.

“Kurmi had changed his appearance -- he wore his beard long and started wearing a turban to look like a Sardar. He moved to Amritsar around three to four months ago,” Tiwari said.

“Investigation revealed that the accused moved through six states -- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Punjab --in the past 16 years. He kept changing his number and identities frequently to evade arrest,” said Tiwari.