After hunting for the accused for over a decade, the Mumbai police finally laid a trap and caught him on Sunday; they are now waiting for DNA results to confirm a match
Displaying both perseverance and ingenuity, the Mumbai Crime Branch is now close to ending a 13 year old rape and murder case, with the arrest of a watchman. Although the accused had eluded them for over a decade, the police laid a trap and finally apprehended him on Sunday. The cops are now waiting for a confirmation of a DNA match with the case evidence.
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The case
Over 13 years ago, on November 17, 2001, the police had found the body of a 22-year-old woman at the Doongerwadi funeral ground of the Parsi Panchayat Compound, Malabar Hill. On investigation, they suspected that the victim had been raped and murdered by one of the compound watchmen.
The accused, Rajkishore Feku Paswan (35) and his brother, Dilip were both guards at the compound in 2001. At first, the cops suspected his brother (Dilip) was culprit, but when his DNA didn’t match the DNA found on the victim’s body, the cops began to look for Rajkishore, who was absconding by then.
Clever plan
Officers from the Crime Branch (Unit II), Prashant Raje, Sudesh Ajgaonkar, Pramod Shirke and Hridinath Mishra began deeper investigations but found no trace of Rajkishore. “We searched for him in Delhi, Ludhiana and Bihar, but found no clue, so we decided to use a trick. We called up his neighbour in Bihar and said we were going there the next day to pick up Rajkishore.
The neighbour then called up Rajkishore and warned him that he should stay away as the cops were going to visit,” said an officer from the investigating team. All the while, the police kept an eye on the neighbour’s call records, and used it to track Rakishore down at Hazira industrial estate in Surat, Gujarat, where he had been working.