A 55-year-old member of a criminal gang accused of robbery and murder bid in Maharashtra's Palghar has been arrested from Jalna district after evading capture for 21 years, police said on Tuesday.
The accused, Baburao Anna Kale, a Pardhi gang member who had concealed his identity to evade arrest, was apprehended on December 20.
He was traced to a house at a farm in his native village Valkhed under Partur taluka in Jalna, the police said.
On January 9, 2003, four persons broke into a bungalow at Bolinj-Agashi in Palghar's Virar area.
They tied-up the house occupants, held them at knifepoint while covering their faces with blankets and stole gold ornaments of Rs 1.33 lakh and Rs 25,000 cash, senior police inspector Rahul Rakha said.
The robbers also targeted a neighbouring bungalow using the same modus operandi, but failed to find any valuables there.
The Virar police registered an FIR the same day against the then unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code sections 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 342 (wrongful confinement), 457 (lurking house-trespass), 511 (attempt to commit an offence) and 34 (common intention), the official said.
In 2005, one of the accused, Suchinath alias Rajesh Satyavan Pawar, was apprehended, and a charge sheet was filed against him. But three others, including Kale, remained at large, he said.
In the recent months, the Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar (MBVV) crime branch made a renewed effort to conduct the probe during which they received a tip about Kale residing in his village in Jalna, the official said.
A crime branch team, with the assistance of local police, traced Kale to the village in Jalna and arrested him last week, he said.
During interrogation, it came to light that Kale was involved in at least 10 other cases, including of property theft and attempt to murder, registered at various police stations in Jalna and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, the official said.
Two others accused in the 2003 robbery case were still at large, the police said.
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