Convicted sexual offender on the run for last three years after jumping parole, nabbed in Delhi

New Delhi [India], June 19 (ANI): A convict who did not return to prison after the end of his parole during the Covid situation in April 2020 was captured by Delhi Police in the national capital, officials said.

The absconding criminal, identified as Shree Bhagwan, 40, a native of Chapra in Bihar was sentenced to life imprisonment in a sensational kidnapping and rape case involving a 5-year-old minor girl.

A case under sections 363 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against him at the Bawana Police Station in Delhi on the complaint of a father of the minor, who alleged that she was raped and kidnapped by Bhagwan. According to the police, the rape survivor was known to Bhagwan.

A court in Delhi found Bhagwan guilty and convicted him of life imprisonment.

He was released on parole in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 situation.

However, he did not surrender to jail on his due date of February 2021.

On receiving information from jail authorities and seeing the gravity of the case, a dedicated police team was constituted to nab him.

The police team found that the accused’s family was not living at the Bawana address provided by him and had shifted to an unknown place, said the police.

Police personnel visited several JJ colonies in the city but were unsucceful in tracing the convict’s whereabouts.

Finally, a contractor identified the photo of the accused and informed police that the latter could be found at a labour chowk, near Lokesh Cinema in Nangloi area of the national capital.

Accordingly, the team traced him and nabbed on June 11 him by posing as ‘Thekedar’/contractor who hired labourers.

On interrogation, he revealed that in 2012, he used to live in JJ Colony Bawana and had enticed the 5-year-old victim on the pretext of giving her ‘Jujube’ (a type of fruit) and raped her.

He said that after jumping parole he started working as a construction labourer and kept changing his address. He lived on rent with his family and to prevent being tracked did not use a mobile phone.