NEW DELHI: A most wanted criminal, who was allegedly involved in a number of murder and dacoity cases in the national capital, finally landed in police net in Uttarakhand after giving sleuths a slip for the past 26 years.
Ravinder Kumar (54) was caught by a special team of Delhi Police from Dehradun after a series of investigations and visit to various places across the country, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H G S Dhaliwal said on Monday.
Kumar, who had a Rs 50,000 reward on his head, was staying in Dehradun under a fake identity J K Narula, he said adding his wife was running a beauty parlour there.
When apprehended, Kumar even tried to dupe police and also tried to inflict self injuries.
"Police had experienced difficulty in his identification as he had grown old and had changed his appearance," Dhaliwal said, adding investigators had earlier caught a few persons suspecting that it was Kumar.
"His old friends putting up in Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Dehradun were also contacted and it was learnt that Kumar was staying in Uttarakhand with a fake name," he said.
Kumar and his associates were allegedly involved in robberies at shops of jewellers and diamond merchants.
During commission of crime and gunfight, he had also received bullet injuries twice and one bullet is still lodged in his body while another bullet pierced his neck and caused serious injuries, Dhaliwal said.
Kumar's involvement in crimes date back to early 1970s and on July 26, 1975, he murdered his friend with a dagger on a trivial issue. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but he managed to flee from jail after five years.
In another sensational incident, he suffered bullet injuries while trying to kill a jeweller during a robbery attempt at the shop. He was nabbed while his associates managed to escape.
He was also allegedly involved in looting Canara Bank of Rs eight lakh in 1982.
After committing crimes, Dhaliwal said, he used to escape to Mumbai.
After escaping from jail, Kumar, a painter by profession, married a woman from Ettah in Uttar Pradesh with whom he had fallen in love.
The couple has two boys in this marriage who were educated in a "good school" in Dehradun, Dhaliwal said.
His children later did a computer engineering course and are working in reputed companies, Dhaliwal said.
Kumar was earlier declared a proclaimed offender in all cases he committed in the past.
