Delhi Police nab man who escaped custody, travelled 1,100km to Capital

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police have arrested a 33-year-old man for allegedly escaping from police custody in Nagpur and then hitch-hiking his way across the country -- all to meet his wife.

Police said the escaped prisoner, Ceejo Chandaran, had not met his wife since he left Delhi in 2012.

Chandaran was in under custody for cases of kidnapping for ransom, attempt to murder, robbery and under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

Nine days ago, he escaped from Maharashtra Police’s custody while being taken to a hospital in Nagpur and travelled 1,110 km to the Capital. Delhi Police caught him at the house of his in-laws in south Delhi’s Dakshinpuri.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said that in October 2018, Chandaran, along with his four associates, kidnapped a Nagpur-based builder’s son and demanded ~1 crore for his safe release.

“The local police, however, arrested the kidnappers and safely rescued the boy. They also charged them under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). On May 16, Chandaran escaped from the police custody while being taken to a hospital in Nagpur for treatment,” said DCP Thakur.

He travelled to Delhi to meet his wife, Thakur added.

The DCP said that the Neb Sarai police learnt about the presence of the escaped prisoner at his in-laws home and caught him. During the interrogation, Thakur said, Chandaran disclosed that he originally belonged to Kerala but shifted to Delhi with his family in the late 80s.

In 2012, he went to Nagpur for work and met a woman. “He attempted to kill the woman over some issue. She survived and Chandaran was arrested. In jail, Chandaran came closer to some criminals. After coming out of the jail, they committed some crimes in Nagpur, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh,” the DCP said, adding that Nagpur police was informed about Chandaran’s arrest.