23 years on, law catches up with offender

Chandigarh, August 12

A 52-year-old woman, who had been declared a proclaimed offender (PO) in a kidnapping and rape case and had been on the run for the past 24 years, has been arrested by the PO and summon staff of the UT police.

The accused, identified as Veerwati, a native of Uttar Pradesh (UP), was arrested in Hoshiarpur district.

The case dates back to December 1999 when the complainant, Nathi Lal, who worked at a brick-kiln in Mauli Jagran, reported that his co-workers, Mohinder, Harish Chander, Shishu Pal, Pritam and Veerwati, kidnapped his 15-year-old daughter and took her to UP.

Subsequently, a case under Sections 363, 366, 376, 342, 506 and 34 of the IPC was registered at the Mauli Jagran police station. The police said Veerwati did not appear before the court and was declared a PO on April 18, 2004.

The police said a dedicated team of the PO and summon staff had been tracking the accused for the past three months. The team raided various places in UP and found that the accused had shifted to Himachal Pradesh (HP). Consequently, raids were carried out in HP. However, it was found that the accused had changed her base to Punjab and had been living there for the past 10 years.

The team conducted raids in Hoshiarpur district and nabbed the accused in a forest area in Garhshankar.

She was produced before the court and the judge sent her to judicial custody.