31 December,2023 11:55 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
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Mumbai Police caught a 62-year-old man, Deepak Narayan Bhise, who had been on the run for 31 years in connection with a murder case. Despite the belief that he had passed away, the police located him in Nalasopara, Palghar district, by tracing his wife's mobile number, stated a report by news agency PTI.
According to the report, Bhise had been moving around for the past two years and finally settling in Nalasopara. He lived in a leased house with his family and worked on tree-cutting contracts.
Bhise was charged with murdering Raju Chikna and attempting to murder Dharmendra Saroj in 1989. Despite being granted bail in 1992, he never appeared in court. In 2003, the court designated him an absconder, forcing the police to conduct a manhunt, the report added.
Despite residents' suggestions that Bhise had died when police enquired at his last known address in Kandivali, they continued their search. They eventually obtained Bhise's wife's phone number, which led them to his whereabouts in Nalasopara on Friday night, an official told PTI.
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Bhise, who lived with his wife and children, made a living by accepting tree-cutting contracts, the reports added.
"Whenever police visited Bhise's residential address at Tulaskarwadi in suburban Kandivali, local people would tell us he might have died but we kept looking for him. During the search, police managed to get the mobile phone number of Bhise's wife and tracked him down to Nalasopara from where he was nabbed on Friday night," the official was quoted as saying in the report.
He was arrested for attempted murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and is now being held in Thane jail following a court appearance. The inquiry into the case is still ongoing, the report stated quoting a police officer.
Kandivali police station sub-inspector Nitin Satam told PTI, "Accused Bhise has been arrested under Indian Penal Code Section 307 (attempt to murder) and lodged in a jail in Thane after being produced in a court. Further investigation is underway."
Meanwhile, the cops are looking for an anonymous caller who claimed that there will be serial bomb blasts across the city on Saturday. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said that strict action will be taken against the accused.
