District police stop murder convict on the run

Rafeeq from Ch'nagar was in TN, after hoodwinking escort men

A murder convict, who had been evading police from the past three years after breaking away from the clutches of escort policemen, has been arrested on Tuesday.

Announcing this to media at his office, on Wednesday, SP Abhinav Khare said, Rafeeq alias ‘Chouti’, aged 36 years, a resident of Beedi Colony, Chamarajanagar city, was apprehended at Ervadi, Ramanathapuram district, in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Rafiq and his accomplice Afsar had bolted after pushing two escort policemen to the ground, near Hullahalli Circle, Nanjangud town, on March 18, 2013. The policemen were bringing them back to the Central Prisons Mysore, after producing them before a court in Gundlupet. While Afsar was nabbed later at T Narsipur, Rafeeq had remained at large.

The SP said, when the investigators were vetting into two house burglary and theft cases reported during October and November last from Rehmat Nagar in Chamarajanagar city and Galipura, it emerged to be the handiwork of a professional burglar.

The circle police inspector of South station in Mysuru, D Ashok, had information over an absconder frequently visiting his native, Chamarajanagar. Eventually, the investigators reached Rafeeq in Tamil Nadu. Acting on his information, 80 grams of gold valuables stolen in the aforementioned cases and disposed in Gundlupet were recovered.

Rafeeq was earlier a part of a six-member gang that included Afsar, Humayun and three others, involved in robbery and house burglary and theft cases. In the year 2009, differences emerged between Humayun and other members of the gang over sharing the ill-gotten wealth.

Enraged, they did Humayun to death on April 17 the same year and set the body on fire with petrol after cutting it into pieces, on the outskirts of Nanjangud. The Nanjangud rural police had succeeded in cracking the case by arresting the accused. Rafeeq and Afsar had been found guilty and had been awarded life imprisonment, while the remaining accused were acquitted.

The police team consisted of Sub-Inspector B G Mahesh from Jayapura along with other personnel.