NEW DELHI: A 48-year-old dreaded criminal who had gang-raped, murdered a woman and left her naked body at a park in southwest Delhi's Vasant Kunj area was arrested nearly 10 years after he committed the brutal crime, an official said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Randhaul alias Ramphal, was previously involved in five criminal cases, including two murders that he had committed nearly three decades back.
The woman who was gang-raped and murdered in 2014 by the accused Randhaul and his associates was spending her time at the park after coming out from a hospital where her father was admitted.
DCP (Special Cell) Amit Kaushik said there was information about the presence of an absconded criminal Randhaul alias Ramphal in the area of Baraut, UP following which this input was further developed by deputing sources and mounting surveillance on the movements of the said fugitive.
For six straight months, the sleuths of Special Cell kept developing information and trying to trace the dreaded criminal. Finally, the cops received a crucial tip-off that Randhaul would come between 4-5 pm at his house situated in village Luhari of UP's Baghpat district.
Accordingly, a specialised team was formed and immediately dispatched to the aforesaid location from where Randhaul was arrested on October 1 under section 41 (1) c of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
As per section 41(1)(c) of the CrPc, any police officer may without an order from a Magistrate and a warrant, arrest any person who has been proclaimed as an offender either under this Code or by order of the State Government.
Sharing a brief criminal history of the accused, the DCP said Randhaul went to jail for the first time in 1993 in an attempt to murder case where he along with his father had beaten his neighbour mercilessly over a small issue of passing through an agriculture field.
"He became more violent after coming out from jail and started behaving like a gangster in his village," the DCP said.
In 1994, Randhaul's father was killed by Subhash and Rajender, both residents of his village, as they had stolen some parts of a transformer installed at the entrance of the village and his father had caught them. Randhaul took revenge by killing Subhash. Eight years later in 2002, the accused Randhaul, along with his two associates, had killed one person -- just to create terror in his village.
There was no stopping of Randhaul's crimes as in 2014, Randhaul along with his friends went to Sanjay Van (a biodiversity park) in southwest Delhi's vasant Kunj area for partying.
"A woman whose father was admitted to a nearby hospital used to visit the park frequently had also come that day. They all raped her and thereafter killed her brutally by strangulation and dumped her dead body in a naked condition in Sanjay Van Park," the officer said.
The accused Randhaul had remained absconding since he committed the heinous crime for 10 long years. Further investigation is underway, the official added.