The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has arrested a proclaimed offender who had been evading arrest for 25 years despite being involved in a series of brutal robbery-cum-murder cases across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, an officer said on Friday.
The accused, identified as Dhiraj Tomar, 45, was wanted in a 2001 murder case registered at the New Ashok Nagar police station.
According to police, Tomar had assumed a new identity and lived in hiding for more than two decades, frequently shifting locations to avoid arrest.
The case dates back to 17 March 2001, when police recovered two men from a dump yard in Mayur Vihar Phase-III. One victim was declared dead at LBS Hospital, while the other survived.
“During the investigation, two suspects, Dhirendra and Dilip Negi, were arrested and later convicted in 2007, receiving life imprisonment.
Tomar and another associate, Ajay Lamba, managed to flee and were declared proclaimed offenders,” said Pankaj Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime-IV, New Delhi.
In 2010, Tomar’s brother Dhirendra, who had been serving his sentence, jumped parole and disappeared.
The Crime Branch arrested him earlier this year, and during interrogation he revealed that Tomar had assumed the name Raj Singh and was living discreetly near his native village in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Acting on this intelligence, a team deployed secret informers in the area. After verifying his identity, they nabbed Tomar from Sikanderpur Kalan.
During interrogation, Tomar confessed to his involvement not only in the Delhi case but also in multiple murders and robberies in Almora, Haldwani, and Lohaghat in Uttarakhand.
Police said the gang would hire taxis, kill the drivers, dump their bodies in remote hilly regions, and then sell the stolen vehicles in Nepal.
Tomar was reportedly involved in at least four major robbery-cum-murder cases, including FIRs from Haldwani (1999), Almora (2001), and Lohaghat (2001).
Further investigation is underway, and police are now tracing the whereabouts of co-accused Ajay Lamba, who remains at large.