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Kolkata: A week after the brutal murder of student Ishita Mallick in West Bengal’s Nadia district, police on Monday early morning arrested the prime accused, Deshraj Singh, from Uttar Pradesh while he was allegedly trying to cross into Nepal in a vehicle, a senior police officer said.
"Deshraj was arrested while he was travelling by car near the India–Nepal border. He seems to have been trying to cross into Nepal," a senior officer of Krishnanagar Police District told PTI.
"Earlier, we obtained information about him from his arrested uncle. Despite being in deep shock after the incident, the student's family cooperated with us and provided various details. After examining those, we got a lead and our team swung into action," he said.
The crime took place last Monday when Deshraj, a youth from Uttar Pradesh living in Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas, allegedly stormed into his girlfriend’s house at Palpara, Krishnanagar, and shot her dead as she attempted to end their relationship.
Following the murder, the accused went on the run, evading investigators for days with the active support of his family, two gangster brothers-in-law, and influential circles in Uttar Pradesh.
According to police sources, three separate teams from Krishnanagar had been deployed in Uttar Pradesh, suspecting that Deshraj might be hiding in one of his secret hideouts.
A massive search was launched, and in the early hours of Monday morning, Deshraj was arrested from Nautanwa town in Maharajganj district, near the Nepal border, he said.
He was later brought to Krishnanagar Kotwali police station on transit remand, he said.
The crackdown followed the arrest of his maternal uncle, Kuldeep Singh, from Jamnagar, Gujarat, on Sunday.
"Kuldeep helped Deshraj escape and arranged fake documents to conceal his identity," he said, adding that interrogating Kuldeep eventually led investigators to Deshraj's whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Deshraj's father, Raghavendra Pratap Singh, has been placed under house arrest in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, and will soon be brought to Krishnanagar for questioning, the police officer said.