Murder accused arrested after 150-km car chase through highway, villages and lanes

The accused Akshay Dagar had allegedly gunned down two rival gangsters in Dwarka’s Bamnoli village on May 2 over a property dispute.

A 150-kilometre car chase through Haryana ended with the arrest of a 25-year-old man wanted in a double murder case in the national capital, the Delhi Police’s special cell said on Monday.

The murder accused Akshay Dagar drove through lanes and viilages for over 150 km but was finally arrested. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The murder accused was identified as Akshay Dagar. According to Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police, Dagar entered the crime world after getting his engineering degree in 2015. Dagar got his engineering degree from a college in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh, police said.

Giving details of the double murder case, the police said that on May 2, Dagar had allegedly gunned down two rival gangsters, Sandeep alias Mental and Pawan, in Dwarka’s Bamnoli village while the duo was heading to a city court to attend a hearing. The police said a property dispute between two gangs had led to the double murder. Dagar had remained on the run all this even as his partner in the crime Rajiv alias Monu was arrested in June.

Investigators said they were on Dagar’s trail for the past five months. “Last Wednesday, we zeroed down on his hideout in a village near Kalka town in Haryana. But the circumstances did not allow us to approach the house,” said an investigator who was involved in the chase.

On Thursday, a six-member police team spotted Dagar leaving the house with a Delhi woman in a silver coloured Baleno. “We signalled him to stop, but he sped away. We immediately launched a chase in our two private cars. We even sought backup from Delhi to intercept the car on the way,” said the officer.

According to the police, Dagar was driving “dangerously and at high speed” to keep ahead on the National Highway 1. “On multiple occasions, he took the narrow streets of adjoining villages to get rid of the tail. One of our cars chased him through those streets while our other vehicle kept on the highway,” said the officer.

Dagar managed to take service roads at toll plazas, the police said. “We lost his sight once near Ambala, but were again able to spot him quickly,” said the officer.

Dagar’s luck ran dry near Karnal when the backup police team, consisting of five officers, intercepted the Baleno. A pistol and two cartridges were recovered from him.

The Delhi woman accompanying Dagar had “deserted her husband and run away to live with him” five months ago, said an officer not authorised to speak to the media. “The woman has been handed over to the officers of Dwarka Sector 23 police station who were probing her disappearance,” said the officer.