New Delhi: A 20-year-long manhunt culminated Monday evening as the Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested Sipahi Lal, a man wanted for the murder of Delhi-based businessman Ramesh Chand Gupta. The accused had managed to evade the police for two decades and had changed his identity, calling himself ‘Gurdayal’.
A tip-off was received by Assistant Sub Inspector Sonu Nain that Lal was hiding in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh.
“The team came to know that the accused had changed his name, and was selling chhole bhature at the Ramleela Ground in Mainpuri. After two days, the ASI found that the accused Sipahi Lal was under disguise as one Gurdayal chhole wala. When confronted, Lal initially lied that his name is Gurdayal. However, following sustained interrogation, he disclosed his real name and identity,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Rakesh Pawariya said.
The Ramesh Chand Gupta murder case
On 31 October, 2004, Ramesh Chand Gupta, a cereal business owner from Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh had left home in his Santro car, but did not return for Karwa Chauth festivities. Despite multiple calls, there was no trace of Gupta, after which the family lodged a missing person complaint at the Shalimar Bagh police station.
A case of abduction was filed, and the family suspected the involvement of another fruit and vegetable businessman in the area, Mukesh Vats. Gupta’s car was later found to have been deposited in Gurugram’s Bahadurgarh police station.
The Shalimar Bagh police managed to locate Vats, who confessed to having kidnapped and killed Gupta, along with his associates Sipahi Lal, Shareef Khan, Kamlesh and Rajesh. While Vats and Khan were sentenced to life imprisonment, Rajesh, Kamlesh and Lal remained absconding and were declared proclaimed offenders by the court.
According to the police, Vats, on the day of the incident, had called Gupta to his room in Delhi’s Karala. All the accused repeatedly sprayed him with “a liquid” until he became unconscious and then killed him with a knife. They put Gupta’s body in a gunny bag, and dumped it in a drain near Karala village. The knife and the spray bottle containing “the liquid” were recovered by the police.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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