How Mumbai police traced Uday Pathak

Uday Pathak, the main accused in the quadruple murders at Kurar, is a hardened criminal who had carefully planned his escape routes even before he committed the crime.

Uday Pathak, the main accused in the quadruple murders at Kurar, is a hardened criminal who had carefully planned his escape routes even before he committed the crime.

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He took great care to erase his trail, which is how he managed to dodge the Mumbai police dragnet for more than a fortnight.

Crime branch sources told HT that after the murders on June 5, Pathak threatened his associates into silence. “He told them to flee from the city and headed for home,” sources said. Within half-an-hour he took his wife and five-year-old son and left for Shirdi.

“He knew if he went alone, his wife could disclose his hideouts to his friends or the police,” sources said. He even left his cell phone behind knowing he could be traced through it.

However, the crime branch learnt he had called one of his friends from a landline phone for money and immediately put that friend under observation. Also, Pathak never stayed in any place for more than two nights which is why the police teams were unable to nab him.

However, Pathak, who had run out of money, called his friend once again for money. The friend was picked up by police and revealed Pathak’s location.

A team was dispatched to Varanasi and Pathak was nabbed. “He had an elaborate travel plan to keep changing his location. We reached in time and cut off his escape route,” said joint commissioner of police, crime, Himanshu Roy.