A former Navy man, who had been living under an assumed identity after faking his own death, has been apprehended for allegedly strangling one man to death and setting two others on fire nearly two decades ago.
Balesh Kumar confessed to the police that he and his brother, Sunder Lal, had strangled an individual named Rajesh in Delhi's Samaypur Badli in 2004.
A former Navy man, who had been living under an assumed identity after faking his own death, has been apprehended for allegedly strangling one man to death and setting two others on fire nearly two decades ago.
Balesh Kumar, now 60 years old, was taken into custody following a tip received by the Delhi Police regarding an individual wanted for a murder that occurred in Delhi's Bawana locality in 2004. Kumar had adopted the alias Aman Singh and had been employed as a property dealer, according to Ravinder Yadav, a senior officer in the Delhi Police crime branch.
Upon Kumar's arrest, a grim tale of events emerged. Originally from Haryana, Kumar had received education up to Class 8 before joining the Navy in 1981. He retired from the Navy in 1996 and then ventured into the transport business, residing in Delhi's Uttam Nagar with his family.
Kumar confessed to the police that he and his brother, Sunder Lal, had strangled an individual named Rajesh in Delhi's Samaypur Badli in 2004. He claimed that the three of them had been drinking when a dispute arose over an alleged extramarital affair between Kumar and Rajesh's wife. The argument escalated into a physical altercation, during which Kumar and his intoxicated brother strangled Rajesh to death.
Following the murder, Kumar devised a plan to escape justice. He enlisted the services of two laborers, Manoj and Mukesh, both from Bihar and residing in Delhi's Samaypur Badli, under the pretense of offering them employment. The trio then embarked on a journey to Rajasthan using a truck owned by Kumar's brother. In Jodhpur, Kumar purportedly set the truck ablaze with the two laborers inside and left his own documents behind. When the police arrived at the scene, one of the charred bodies was mistakenly identified as Kumar's, while the other remained unidentified.
As the legal proceedings for Rajesh's murder unfolded in court, authorities informed that Sunder Lal had been apprehended, and Kumar was presumed dead due to the truck fire.
Kumar's wife had received his pension benefits and life insurance payout, and the insurance for the truck had been redirected to her. His past identity and crimes were effectively concealed until their cover was eventually blown.
The Delhi Police have now requested their counterparts in Jodhpur to reopen the case related to the truck fire in light of these startling revelations.