NEW DELHI: Often have we heard, ‘the reach of law is rather long’. One may run from law and its sentinels, but consequences will always catch up, as the proverb implies, was illustrated once again, when Delhi Police apprehended a convicted criminal, who had jumped his bail period and was evading the authorities for the past three years, from Mumbai. The struggle; cops had to pose as election officials in a densely-populated Mumbai slum to trace and arrest the convict.
The crime dates to 2013 when Mohammed Mushtaq had committed murder by throwing a man from the fifth floor of a building in Delhi. And the incident; Mushtaq, with his two friends had an altercation with a man at a tea joint. Next day, Mushtaq and his accomplices went to the man’s house.
The father of the man later told cops that moments after Mushtaq took his son away from the house, he heard a loud thud. Rushing out of the house, he saw his son lying on the road in a pool of blood. Mushtaq had pushed his son, who ultimately succumbed to his injuries, from the fifth floor of the building.
A case was lodged. Mushtaq was arrested and after years of criminal proceedings, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In May 2021, when India was grappling with the second wave of COVID, Mushtaq was released on emergency parole for 90 days. Upon its expiry, he never surrendered. He had been absconding ever since. But, ‘the mills of God grind slowly, but they grind fine’. Consequences may be delayed, but they will be sure, and severe.
Sub-inspector Ritesh Kumar of the Crime Branch of Delhi Police received a tip-off on April 6 regarding the whereabouts of convict Mohd Mustaq, informing the officer that he was in hiding in Mumbai. Acting upon the intelligence, a police team reached Mumbai.
But, there was a problem. The police knew Mushtaq was residing in Govandi area of Mumbai; but where in Govandi, they didn’t know. Now, finding a criminal while in a police uniform would attract a lot of undesired attention. This would tick off the criminal, who might slip away.
Thus, Delhi cops devised a shrewd ploy, disguise. Using the bustle of the Lok Sabha elections to conceal their tracks, “The team pretended to be election officers and went door-to-door asking people whether they needed voter cards issued,” DCP (Crime) Amit Goel said.
After visiting over 500 houses, the police finally landed upon a house, inhabited by a man who looked a lot like the convict Mushtaq. “He had shaved his beard and moustache to hide his identitiy,” the officer said. Once the identity was confirmed, the police abandoned their disguise, apprehending Mushtaq.
During interrogation, the convict disclosed that after he was released on emergency parole, he went back to his village where he got married. Without a source of income, and the police on his heels, he went to Mumbai and started working in an embroidery godown in Baiganwadi area located in Govandi, Mumbai. The official informed that the convict is being produced before the jail authorities.