Delhi Police arrest 2002 murder suspect after 24 years on the run

Delhi Police have arrested a 48-year-old man who was wanted in a 2002 murder case, nearly 24 years after he allegedly killed a 35-year-old acquaintance in south Delhi. Police said the accused, Firoj alias Khaja, had been on the run since the killing of Kalaam Ansari.

He was arrested by the Crime Branch from a readymade garment factory in IMT Manesar, Gurugram, where he had been working as a tailor for the past two years, an officer said on Sunday. The case was registered at the Okhla Industrial Area police station.

Police said Ansari's body was found in a forested area near Tughlaqabad Fort in February 2002. "On February 18, 2002, a highly decomposed body of an approximately 35-year-old man was recovered from the DDA forest near Tughlaqabad Fort. The body was covered with stones and the victim's head had been brutally crushed," the officer said.

The deceased was later identified as Ansari, a resident of West Champaran in Bihar. During the investigation, police found that Ansari had come to Delhi for work in 2001 along with Firoj. The probe also found an old family dispute involving Firoj's brother Saahbjaan, who was married to a woman from Ansari's village. According to police, Saahbjaan was involved in a dispute with his wife and later died by suicide in front of Ansari's house. "Firoj suspected Ansari's family of being responsible for the circumstances leading to his brother's suicide and had expressed his intention to take revenge," the officer said.

Police alleged that on February 15, 2002, Firoj took Ansari to the forest near Tughlaqabad and killed him by crushing his head with stones. He then returned to Bihar, gave misleading information about Ansari's whereabouts and absconded. The Crime Branch recently began a fresh effort to trace him and carried out around 30 raids over the past two months, including several visits to Bihar. After studying old records and following field leads, the police learnt that he was working at a garment factory in IMT Manesar. A team then kept watch at the factory, confirmed his identity and arrested him.

Police said Firoj had cut ties with his native village after the murder and kept moving from place to place while hiding his identity and whereabouts. He is married and has four children. Further investigation is underway. The arrest has brought movement in a murder case linked to the killing of Kalaam Ansari in 2002. - EndsWith PTI inputs