A 61-year-old murder convict has been nabbed 26 years after he jumped parole in New Delhi. Onkar Singh aka Ladda, a resident of Vishnu Garden in west Delhi, was held by a team of Delhi Police's vigilance branch.
Feeling secure that police had stopped following him, Onkar had started living with his wife and two children -- a son and a daughter.
The vigilance branch has been developing profiles of proclaimed offenders, who have been almost forgotten due to their exceptionally long periods of absconding from the law. During one such operation, the profile of Onkar was developed.
"It was learnt that Onkar was a proclaimed offender in a murder case filed with Pahar Ganj police station in 1980. The initial probe revealed that the accused was living in Vishnu Garden and taken up a job as a private security guard," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ishwar Singh.
On Sunday, specific information was received about his whereabouts and Onkar was apprehended in a swift operation.
Onkar along with his associates Devinder Kumar aka Billu, Amar Pal Singh aka Lovely and Ravinder Kumar aka Bhopu had killed 25-year-old Parminder Kumar on November 25, 1980.
Parminder was a vendor of readymade garments at a shop in Gali Sangtarshan in Pahar Ganj, Delhi. "Ravinder had purchased a jersey from Parminder for Rs 55 out of which Rs 20 were paid and the rest was promised to be paid later. However, Ravinder did not pay the balance amount and this led to a dispute between them," the DCP added.
On November 25, 1980, at about 8.30 pm, Parminder had gone to attend a jagran at Gali Sangtarashan where he found Ravinder along with his three associates. When Parminder insisted about his balance payment, Ravinder and Onkar took out knives and stabbed Parminder in his abdomen and chest. Parminder was declared brought dead at a nearby hospital.
During the course of investigation, all the four accused were arrested and after investigation, put to trial.
On May 15, 1982, RC Jain, the then Additional Session Judge had sentenced Ravinder and Onkar to life imprisonment, while the remaining two accused were acquitted. Against this judgment, Onkar had filed appeals in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court, but the same were dismissed and his conviction remained upheld.
Onkar remained in judicial custody till 1989 and in the same year, he applied for parole to get married. After getting married, he surrendered to judicial custody. Later, he again applied for parole in 1991 and after being granted parole by the competent authority, he fled away.
On November 21, 1991, Onkar was declared a proclaimed offender by Lead Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi.
After jumping parole, Onkar kept on shifting from one city to another and for short periods, and lived in cities like Ludhiana, Bikaner, Haridwar, Ghaziabad and Modinagar before returning to New Delhi where he stayed at various addresses in Raghubir Nagar, Bhajanpura and Uttam Nagar, before finally arriving in Vishnu Garden.
In Vishnu Garden, Onkar was hired by a private security agency. He was currently deployed at Ganga Ram Vatika.
