Mumbai: Housebreak accused absconding for past 20 years arrested by RAK Marg police

Mumbai: The RAK Marg police have arrested a man on the run for 20 years after being on trial in a robbery case. All these years, the accused did not use a mobile phone under his own name for fear of being caught. He didn’t even have an Aadhaar or PAN card. He and his family used SIM cards bought by using documents of other people. He was caught after the police found out his wife’s phone number.

The accused, Raju Shankar Parad alias Rajubuwa, was arrested in 2003 in a housebreak case and was granted bail by the court. However, he stopped appearing in the court for hearings, following which the Bhoiwada court issued a non-bailable warrant against him. 

After the warrant, the RAK Marg police formed a team and launched a manhunt. By then, though, he had abandoned his house in a Sewree chawl and fled.

On checking his records, the police found that he had no PAN, Aadhaar or Voter ID cards and even no driving license. He was also not found in his native village in Khed taluka of Pune district.

For years, the police searched for him and traced the location of his wife’s mobile in Dhule district. The exact location couldn’t be tracked properly due to a hilly terrain, but assistance of the local police helped.

On questioning Rajubuwa’s relatives, the police found that he was working as a waiter at a hotel on the Nashik-Pune highway. He was finally nabbed from a lodge in the area.