Ahmedabad police nab on the run Valentine’s Day murder accused in Delhi

Tarun Jinaraj accused of killing his wife Sajni Krishnan 20 years ago evaded authorities for nearly 15 years before being arrested in 2018

Tarun Jinaraj, 42, a fugitive accused of murdering his wife on Valentine’s Day in 2003, was arrested by the Ahmedabad cyber crime officers from a guest house in Delhi, weeks after being released on a temporary bail. Jinaraj who is accused of killing his wife Sajni Krishnan 20 years ago evaded authorities for nearly 15 years before being arrested in 2018.

(Representative Image)

Jinaraj, however, jumped bail after he was granted a two-week temporary one from August 4 by the Gujarat High Court on July 18 this year.

A metro court in Ahmedabad subsequently issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Jinaraj on September 18, following which the Ahmedabad police had launched a country-wide hunt.

Jinaraj was finally arrested from a guest house in the Najafgarh area of south Delhi, the Ahmedabad police confirmed on Thursday.

“We gathered information regarding his time spent in jail between July 18 and August 4 (the time period between the bail order and his temporary release)... Through diligent investigation, we obtained credible leads that ultimately led us to his whereabouts in Delhi, where he had taken up residence as a paying guest. Notably, during this time, he had procured a counterfeit Aadhar card and adopted a fabricated identity, which included undergoing a religious conversion,” Ajit Rajian, deputy commissioner of police, Ahmedabad Cyber Crime department, said.

Jinaraj had managed to get a character certificate for the period he served as an educator to fellow inmates at Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad.

Further, investigators found that Jinaraj received ₹24 lakhs from his mother during his time in prison in August just before he left prison and jumped bail.

Jinaraj is accused of strangling his 26-year-old wife, Sajni Krishnan, on April 14, 2003, just three months after their marriage, at their residence in Ahmedabad. Jinaraj, who worked as a basketball coach at a school, killed his wife to pursue a relationship with his girlfriend from before his marriage.

Jinaraj initially attempted to make the murder appear one committed by burglars, police said.

However, as suspicion zeroed in on him during the course of the murder investigation, he absconded, having first withdrawn money from his wife’s, Sajni’s, account.

Jinaraj successfully evaded capture by assuming a new identity.

Jinaraj not only married again but also made Bengaluru his home, living there with his second wife and their two sons. He also went abroad twice during this time.

He had allegedly assumed the identity of his friend and former hostel mate, Pravin Bhateley, by using Bhateley’s documents. Under this false identity, Jinaraj settled in Bengaluru, finding employment using Bhateley’s credentials at a multi-national company where he worked for several months.

To piece together the crime sequence, the police visited Jinaraj’s mother, Annama Chako, in Madhya Pradesh, discovering she had been receiving calls from a landline number registered in Bengaluru. He also had a mobile number registered in the name of his second wife. This discovery shed further light on the web of deception woven by the fugitive over the years, leading to his arrest 15 years after he had committed the crime.

Since his arrest in October 2018, Jinaraj made several attempts to obtain a bail.

Jinaraj petitioned the sessions court requesting temporary bail to address the financial challenges faced by his mother; he argued that someone had defrauded his mother of ₹24 lakh, and he needed to be with her to help her. In April, the lower court dismissed his request for temporary release as the prosecution argued that granting him temporary freedom might lead to his evading the course of justice.

Subsequently, in May, he turned to the Gujarat high court. During his bail plea arguments in the high court, the prosecution asserted that Sajni’s murder was a pre-planned by her husband. However, Jinaraj’s lawyer attempted to establish his alibi, submitting that Sajni was murdered when he was out to meet his brother and then to purchase a cake and a teddy bear on February 14, 2003.

The state government submitted before the court that Jinaraj had erased his identity and assumed a new one to remain absconding for 15 years.

The high court on July 18 granted him a two-week temporary bail, commencing from his release date from jail, after he pleaded that he required to travel to Bengaluru to access his provident funds.

He was subsequently released on conditional bail on August 4, 2023. Under the terms of his bail, he was mandated to keep local police officers informed about his whereabouts in Karnataka and was required to make bi-weekly visits to the nearest police station throughout his bail period.