The Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested a man declared a proclaimed offender in a 2017 matricide case, who had been absconding for over five years after jumping interim bail, an official said on Friday.
According to the police, he was apprehended near the Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district following months of sustained surveillance and technical tracking.
The accused, identified as 42-year-old Animesh Jha, a resident of Dwarka, had been declared a proclaimed offender in October 2024 by a Dwarka court in connection with an FIR registered under Section 302 of the IPC.
He was granted interim bail in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic but failed to return for trial and fled to Nepal, evading law enforcement ever since.
The case dates back to February 28, 2017, when police at Dwarka North police station received a distress call from the deceased woman’s daughter.
She reported that her mother had been unreachable for several days and suspected her brother, with whom the victim often had heated arguments.
Upon reaching the residence, police discovered the woman’s body. Jha was arrested shortly after and, according to investigators, confessed to killing his mother, believing she intended to transfer her property solely to his sister.
“During the investigation, the team combined ground intelligence with advanced mobile-based surveillance to track Jha’s movements across the Indo-Nepal border region. On the intervening night of December 3–4, officers intercepted him on Nautan Road in Sonauli,” said Harsh Indora, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime).
The DCP said Jha, a B Tech graduate, had struggled with alleged drug dependency and frequently clashed with his mother before the crime.
“His arrest, officials added, reinforces the Crime Branch’s commitment to pursuing long-absconding offenders and ensuring that court proceedings are not derailed by fugitives,” DCP Indora added.
Jha has been brought back to Delhi and will be produced before the court to face trial in the seven-year-old murder case, the officer said, adding that further investigation is underway.