Mumbai: The Oshiwara police have arrested a murder convict who had been on the run ever since he jumped parole in 2020. Apart from a string of lesser offences registered against him all over Mumbai, the accused also has a history of jumping parole from central jails.
According to the Oshiwara police, the accused has been identified as Azam Butt, 47, a resident of the Lohiya Nagar area in Vile Parle. Butt was arrested by the Oshiwara police in 2005 for the murder of a resident of the same locality over a monetary dispute. The case subsequently went to trial and Butt was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was first sent to the Nashik central jail and later to Nagpur, from where he was granted bail during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Butt never reported back to the prison at the end of his parole period and the prison authorities informed us about the same. We had been continuously making inquiries in his area to get a lead on his whereabouts and on Sunday, we received a tip-off that he would be in his locality. Accordingly, we laid a trap and arrested him on Sunday,” said senior police inspector Manohar Dhanawade, Oshiwara police station.
Further inquiries revealed that he had jumped parole from the Nashik central jail thrice during his incarceration there and had subsequently been transferred to the Nagpur prison because of his history.
“Butt would apply for parole but submit forged residence proof documents with his application, showing his address to be in places like Mira Road or Ambarnath in the Thane district. He would then go on the run and the prison authorities would contact the police stations in these locations, only to find that there was no one by that name staying in these areas,” an officer with the Oshiwara police station said.
The officer added that after jumping parole, he had also issued death threats to the family of the man that he had killed.
“Butt also has offences like assault, criminal intimidation and cheating registered against him four police stations in Mumbai, one in Nagpur, one in Goa and one in the Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar commissionerate. We have informed the Nagpur prison authorities about his arrest,” Dhanawade said.
