New Delhi: A serial killer arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday, after a 24-year chase, was involved in a jewellery store dacoity in Odisha’s Berhampur in 2024 and may have smuggled Ganja from the state to Delhi. He was arrested for the crime but obtained bail before authorities realised that he was on the run for murdering at least four taxi drivers in 2001.
Currently, Ajay Lamba faces four cases of robbery and murder.
He would hire a taxi to travel to Uttarakhand, sedate and kill the driver, dispose of the body and then smuggle and sell the car across the border in Nepal. He wasn’t alone when committing these crimes. He had accomplices, two of whom are now behind the bars.
According to the police, the trio targeted several drivers from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in 2001. The number may be much higher than four.
“The accused, a notorious robber-cum-murderer, was involved in four brutal robbery-cum-murder cases targeting cab drivers across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand during the year 2001. He would hire taxis with accomplices, murder the drivers, rob the vehicles, and dispose of the bodies in remote mountainous regions to avoid detection,” Aditya Gautam, DCP, Delhi Police, said.
Of Lamba’s four victims, the body of only one cab driver was recovered. Now that Lamba has been arrested, the police hope to get more information about the crimes.
Lamba (48), is from Delhi and dropped out of school in class VI. He moved to Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly later, where he met two men – Dhirendra and Dilip Negi – who would later become his accomplices. Apart from murders and robberies, Lamba also faces other criminal cases such as theft and illegal possession of arms, the police said.
For a decade, from 2008-2018, Lamba lived in Nepal and later moved to Dehradun in Uttarakhand with his family.
For years, a crime branch team had been tracking him using manual and technical surveillance.
“In 2020, he allegedly became involved in the Ganja supply chain from Odisha to other parts of India, including Delhi. In 2021, he was arrested under the NDPS Act in Sagarpur, Delhi. He was again arrested for a jewellery store dacoity in Berhampur, Odisha in 2024. He got bail in both cases,” the police said.
