On the run for 7 months, murder accused nabbed

After evading law for more than seven months, Sanjay Bhattacharya alias Bengali, prime accused in the sensational Srikant kidnapping-cum-murder case, has been arrested.

After evading law for more than seven months, Sanjay Bhattacharya alias Bengali, prime accused in the sensational Srikant kidnapping-cum-murder case, has been arrested.

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A team of Delhi Police's crime branch caught Bhattacharya from New Delhi railway station on Thursday, while he was about to board Puri-bound Purushottam Express. The police had declared a reward of R50,000 on his arrest, said Sandeep Goel, JCP (crime).

Bhattacharya, along with his three accomplices, including a juvenile, had allegedly strangled Srikant, 26, son of a senior National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) official, with a gear cable. Later, they severed his head and dumped his body at a desolate area in Rewari, Haryana, police said. The police are yet to recover Srikant's head.

According to the police, Bhattacharya had called Srikant to his rented accommodation in Greater Noida, on the pretext of lending money to him.

“All of them, including Srikant, had drinks. Bhattacharya strangled Srikant with a gear cable, while the latter was watching TV lying on a bed,” said Goel.

A couple of weeks after the murder, the police arrested Bhattacharya’s accomplice, Manish, and apprehended his juvenile aide. They said Srikant, who worked as a health official with Max Bupa Health Insurance in Saket, was murdered by the three for his new Hyundai i-10 car. HT was the first to report about the case, registered at the Dhaula Kuan police station in July 2011, in August the same year.