New Delhi: The Southern Range Crime Branch of the Delhi Police succeeded in arresting a heinous criminal from Rudrapur in Uttarakhand for a murder committed in 2021. The operation was carried out in true ‘filmi’ style, with a policeman posing as a momo seller close to where the the criminal ran his food stall.
On December 27, 2021, the body of a 17-year-old teenager was found near the Supreme Model School, Om Vihar, in the Uttam Nagar police station area of Delhi. The body had several stab injuries. The victim’s sister lodged an FIR, in which she accused a local goon and his associates for the murder. According to her, the youngster was abducted and stabbed to death over a dispute regarding a reel he had uploaded on a social media platform.
“While most of the accused were arrested, Bhuvan Joshi (31), managed to give police the slip. In June 2022, he was declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court. The police continued to probe the matter and came to know that Joshi had changed his appearance and name. He was now known as Bunty Singh in Uttarakhand. A team was formed and it traced him to Rudrapur,” Aditya Gautam, DCP, Crime Branch, Delhi Police, told the media.
It wasn’t easy to nail Joshi even after he was traced to Rudrapur. Nobody knew him by that name there and he had also taken on a new look. The police knew that any slip would prompt the criminal to flee. Finally, Sonveer, a head constable of the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch took up the role of a momo seller. Between customers, he started gathering information on newcomers to the area who had set up businesses in the area, just as he had. It is common for outsiders to look for people like themselves at a new place and his queries didn’t arouse any suspicion.
“It didn’t take us long to focus our attention on one Bunty Singh, who ran a Chinese food stall at Rudrapur. Sonveer continued to track his movements and also located his residence. Finally, we managed to arrest him near Savera Apartments in Dibdiba, Uttarakhand on Sunday,” the DCP said.
Initially, Joshi attempted to mislead his captors but finally broke down and confessed his involvement in the murder of the teenager. He has been taken to Delhi.
