Accused of wife’s murder in 2004, Delhi man finally caught in Lucknow
Veerpal alias Maiju, now 60 years old, was declared a proclaimed offender in 2005 after he murdered his wife a year ago.
On the run since 2004 after murdering his wife, a Delhi man, who had been living here under an assumed identity, was finally arrested on Monday, police said. The arrest was made by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police.
Veerpal alias Maiju, now 60 years old, was declared a proclaimed offender in 2005 after he murdered his wife a year ago.
On September 22, 2004, Delhi Police received a report from Jahangirpuri that a tenant had grievously injured his wife and child before fleeing. Upon reaching the spot, police found the woman dead. The scene bore the signs of a violent assault: her mouth was gagged with a saree, broken bangles lay scattered, and a blood-stained brick, along with a broken tooth, was found nearby. The couple’s child, although injured, survived the attack and later identified his father and uncle Suresh alias Saiju as the attackers.
The woman was Veerpal’s second wife. A case was registered at Jahangirpuri. While co-accused Suresh Kumar was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 (currently serving in Tihar Jail), Veerpal managed to escape and evade arrest.
New Delhi DCP (Crime Branch) Adity Gautam said after the murder, Veerpal assumed a new identity as Vijay alias Ramdayal and began living in Bakshi Ka Talab of Lucknow, where he worked as a daily wage worker. Over the years, he sold off his ancestral property and remarried, fathering three daughters with his current wife.
Despite being declared a “proclaimed offender” by a Delhi court on January 22, 2005, Veerpal continued to live undetected for over two decades.
Acting on a long-standing case file, a dedicated team of the Crime Branch’s NDR Unit was constituted, and it employed a combination of traditional and modern surveillance techniques to trace Veerpal’s movements.
During preliminary questioning, Veerpal confessed to the crime and admitted to changing his identity to escape justice, officials said.
