MNC exec in custody over 15-yr-old murder

An MNC executive, arrested for a 15-year-old murder in a joint operation by the Central Crime Branch and Ahmedabad police, has been taken back to Gujarat for further interrogation.

Tarun Kumar Jinraj, absconding since killing his 26-year-old wife in Ahmedabad in 2003, was found working as a senior executive in an MNC on Bannerghatta Road under the fake identity of Praveen Bhataley.

Jinraj is married with two children and was living in BTM Layout II Stage. He managed to get a senior software executive's post in the MNC two years ago, where he has been functioning under the assumed identity.

The police said Jinraj killed his wife Sajini, a bank executive, on February 14, 2003, with the help of his relatives and other associates over a domestic row.

To mislead the police investigation, he concocted an alibi, saying dacoits forced their way into his flat and killed Sajini for monetary gain.

But going by the circumstantial evidence, the Ahmedabad police discovered in two days that the murder was an inside job. They even zeroed-in on Jinraj, finding out that he had killed Sajini with the help of his relatives.

Jinraj went missing two days after the murder. While filing a chargesheet, the police dropped the murder charge and booked him under the Dowry Prohibition Act, also arresting his parents, brother and sister-in-law.

The decision to drop the murder charge earned the Gujarat police widespread criticism, with Sajini's parents complaining to the then chief minister Narendra Modi that Jinraj killed their daughter to live with his girlfriend. This led to the reopening of the case.

The Gujarat police launched a massive manhunt in several states to arrest Jinraj. They visited Bengaluru many times and continued to stay in touch with the CCB police.

Jinraj, who dodged the police for nearly 15 years, inadvertently blew his own cover when he recently got in touch with a relative, who was under police surveillance.

The Ahmedabad police tipped off their CCB counterparts, who tracked him down and arrested him at his office when he was doing the night shift.

A senior police officer said the CCB sleuths have handed Jinraj to their Gujarat counterparts for further investigation.