RTI activist thought to be dead arrested

A married Right to Information activist, who was presumed to have died in a car fire here, has been arrested in Bangalore where he had been staying with another woman, a senior police official said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Preeinder Singh told newspersons that the activist Chander Mohan Sharma was apprehended after police tracked the mobile phone of the woman he was staying with in Bangalore.

According to Singh, Sharma told the police that he was having strained relations with his wife Savita, a social worker.

He had kidnapped a mentally-challenged person and placed him inside a car and set the vehicle ablaze. "Chander Mohan Sharma left his wallet and dress in the car so that the body could be identified as that of him. This he did to fake his own death.

"Thereafter, he went to Bangalore and had been living there with another woman he loved", the SSP said adding a team of Noida police arrested him in Bangalore and brought him to Noida.

A body was recovered from the burnt car a few months ago. Police had identified it as that of Chander Mohan Sharma.

His wife noticed that a woman living in the neighbourhood of her husband too had gone missing from the area after a month of her husband's "death". She informed the police about this, the SSP said.

Police investigation found that that woman was having contacts with Chander Mohan Sharma. Thereafter, her phone was put under electronic surveillance which helped police trace the woman in Bangalore where Sharma was also found with her, said Singh.