Delhi cops nab absconding murder convict from Mumbai

New Delhi : The Delhi Police has arrested a murder convict from Mumbai who was on the run for the last three years, officials said on Thursday.

Mohammad Mustaq, who was serving a life sentence in a jail here in a 2013 murder case, was released on May 15, 2021, on emergency parole for 90 days during the COVID-19 pandemic but he did not surrender. To evade arrest and deceive police, he shaved his beard and moustache, they said.

“In 2013, Mustaq along with his two others had an altercation at a tea shop in Delhi. The complainant’s son had intervened to sort out the matter, but the accused threatened him and fled. The next day, when the complainant was working, heard a thud and found his son in a pool of blood,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime branch) Amit Goel said. “The complainant had alleged that out of grudge all three accused had thrown his son from the fifth floor,” he said.

On April 6, the city police received inputs that Mustaq is presently living in Mumbai. A team traced him to the densely populated slum area in Mumbai’s Govandi, the DCP said. “As there was no specific address, the team acted as Election Officer and went to more than 500 houses to make voter cards for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections. Later, the team identified Mustaq and apprehended him,” said the DCP.

On interrogation, Mustaq disclosed that after he was released on emergency parole, he went to his village and got married. As he did not have any source of income there and police were also looking for him, he moved to Mumbai and started working there in an embroidery godown, the DCP said.