Navi Mumbai: Arrested rapist turns out to be fugitive killer

Navi Mumbai: Arrested rapist turns out to be fugitive killer

Dharmendra Babulal

36-year-old Dharmendra Babulal loves to run... away from his crimes. On January 2, he'd fled after repeatedly raping a woman and after he was caught for the crime two days later, he confessed to the police that he'd fled to Mumbai in 2011 from a jail in Bhopal, where he was serving life imprisonment.

Babulal was lodged in the Purani Jail since 2005, however, he fled from there on August 15, 2011. Once here, he started selling cold drinks and water bottles at Gateway of India and changed his name to Bhairva Singh.

In July 2016, he met a 38-year-old woman and started living with her in December. Archana Gadhave, sub-inspector, Panvel city police station, "The five days they resided in the hut were unbearable for the woman. The neighbours questioned the woman and found that the accused is not her husband and was raping her. Till then he'd fled."

On January 2, the woman registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC. "We received information about him visiting Panvel ST stand and accordingly, caught hold of him on January 4. He was in police custody till January 13," said Gadhave.

During interrogation, Babulal revealed that, "He was arrested for the double murder of his friends in 2004 by the Kamla Nagar police station in Bhopal. A local court in Bhopal sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2005 and he was serving his time in the Purani Jail in Bhopal," added Gadhave. Babulal is currently at Taloja Jail.