Pandora’s Box: Searching for absconders who could be key to cold cases

NEW DELHI: Nearly 600 people involved in various kinds of criminal activities in the Capital are now absconding, with police here saying that they make all efforts to regularly keep tabs on their movements so that they can apprehend them. According to Delhi Police data till May 27, as many as 177 robbers, 168 thieves and burglars, 50 drugs and liquor traffickers and 199 criminals involved in other law-breaking activities were found to be at large.

Sources said that in one of the districts, about 360 criminals (43 robbers, snatchers, 43 burglars, thieves, 114 drug and liquor traffickers, 160 involved in other crimes) were found to be absconding whereas, from another district, nearly 200 criminals were found to be absconding.

There are several instances where more than one person was involved in a crime and later, one of the accused is arrested while others flee. "Our main effort is to arrest all criminals who were involved in any crime incident. It will help us in preventing further crime in the city," one official said, adding that there is always a possibility that some new facts can emerge in a case after arresting absconding criminals.

The National Capital has witnessed several such cases where the accused tried to abscond and have succeeded by taking advantage of darkness, shooting on policemen or even making daring jumps from buildings and flyovers. There

were several instances when the accused jumped parole or fled from police custody.

The Delhi Police also motivate their staff by often giving out-of-turn promotions to those who are involved in catching absconding criminals. An official further added that the absconding accused might start committing other crimes, so it is very important to arrest

all persons suspected to be involved in any criminal case. The Delhi Police Commissioner had recently directed all district DCPS to make best efforts to trace out untraced and absconding criminals. "It was observed that after a case is worked out, the attention on criminals left to be arrested is often diluted," he is learnt to have told them.

He had also said, whenever a snatcher or robber is arrested, he should be interrogated thoroughly to get information about his associates, rival gang members and receivers of properties.

"Sufficient evidence against them be collected and appropriate legal action should be taken against them," he had said in an earlier meeting. According to an official, Police here often have prices on the heads of absconding criminals. Many such cases have been reported where the absconding criminals have changed their facial appearance or identity in order to dodge law enforcement authorities. In 2018, Crime Branch had solved the murder case of a teacher and her three family members who were killed in Wazirabad after arresting one accused. The murders were from 2016 and the Uttar Pradesh Police had registered a case of "Honour Killing" against the family members (all deceased) of the teacher. But later during an investigation conducted by the team of DCP (crime) Bhisham Singh and ACP Aditya Gautam, the murder was solved and the accused was arrested after two years of successfully dodging the police.

Earlier this year, Delhi Police had arrested another accused involved in the murder case of a senior manager of an insurance company in east Delhi's Madhu Vihar area in 2019. Police said that the accused had changed his identity and was living in a drug deaddiction centre.