After five years on the run, criminal lands in police net

A 42-year-old criminal, wanted for a dozen cases, including murders, was arrested by a Special Cell team on Tuesday.

Bijender Singh Yadav had been declared a proclaimed offender in four cases and was carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.

Yadav had also unsuccessfully contested the municipal councillor elections from Delhi’s Bhalswa-Jahangirpuri on a Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket in 2007, said police.

He had been seeking shelters across different regions in north India ever since he went underground following his alleged involvement in a firing incident in August 2010 that left one dead.

Since then, Yadav had been taking shelter in outer Delhi’s Rohini, Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh, Meerut and Aligarh in UP. During the early desperate phase of his days in hiding, he even stayed at a camp in Rishikesh on the banks of Ganga for five days, said police.

At another time, he had to hurriedly vacate rented accommodation where he was hiding upon learning that the landlord’s relative works for Delhi Police. His possible criminal activities in those regions during those five years are being probed.

Yadav committed his first murder in 1999 over a gym membership and was put behind bars for three years. Police said he built his clout even in Tihar Jail. Riding on the fear factor from there, he started his own cable business in the city upon being released from prison.

Police had recently learnt that Yadav had returned to the city. He was nabbed near his home in Bhalswa on Tuesday when he arrived there to meet one of his contacts.A country-made pistol and cartridges were recovered from him.