Murder accused arrested after 38 years in UP's Moradabad

A man on the run in a murder case for nearly 38 years has been arrested by police here after a recent order from the Allahabad High Court, officials said on Saturday.

The accused, Pradeep Kumar Saxena, had been changing his appearance, identity and even religion over the years to evade police arrest.

Police said Pradeep, accused of killing his brother Sanjeev Saxena in 1987, had gone missing after being released on parole in 1989. He later changed his name to Abdul Rahim, grew a beard, began wearing kurta-pyjama and worked as a driver in Moradabad to evade arrest.

City Superintendent of Police Manush Parikh said Prem Nagar police arrested the long-absconding warrant accused on Thursday in compliance with a High Court order that had directed his production before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bareilly, within four weeks.

The court had taken a serious view of the fact that he had been evading proceedings for more than three decades, the officer said.

A special team was constituted on the instructions of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anurag Arya.

“We traced the accused after questioning his family members and acquaintances, most of whom claimed they had not seen him in years. A key lead came from his brother, Suresh, who indicated that Pradeep might be living in Moradabad under a different identity,” the officer added.

The team reached the Katghar area in Moradabad, where locals confirmed that a man idebtified as Abdul Rahim, alias “Saxena Driver”, had been living there for nearly 30 years, Parikh said.

During interrogation, the accused admitted that he had changed his identity after being released on parole and had converted to Islam in 2002 to further conceal his past. He is now over 70 years old, police said.

He was arrested and produced before the CJM court, which sent him to jail on Friday, officials added.