A joint operation by the Surat Rural Police and the West Bengal Police led to the arrest of a criminal named Gafur Shaikh on Sunday (29th March), who has been on the run for 14 years.
According to reports, Shaikh murdered a Hindu woman named Durga Rudra with the help of his 6 friends in December 2012.
He suspected the victim, who was his partner at that time, of being in a relationship with another man. A miffed Shaikh thrashed Durga to death in West Bengal. The victim was a 48-year-old widow.
Shaikh was arrested on Sunday (29th March) in Olpad, Surat. In a statement, Subir Goswami, sub-inspector of Dhaniakhali police station informed, “Shaikh had approached the Calcutta High Court seeking anticipatory bail but his application was rejected on March 6.”
“We got his contact details, including his address, from the bail plea filed through a lawyer in Hooghly. We coordinated with the Surat police, tracked and nabbed him. He is the main accused in the murder. The six other accused are out on bail,” he added.
Goswami pointed out, “He has been working as an artisan at a jewellery factory in Surat for the past one-and-a-half years and earlier stayed in Rajkot for a couple of years. After the murder, Shaikh, who was around 23 at the time, fled to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, before ending up in Gujarat.”
The West Bengal police left for Bengal with Shaikh on Monday (30th March) after obtaining a 2-day transit remand. All the other accused in the case are currently out on bail.
