An Affair, Then 2 Murders To Hide One: Ex Navyman Arrested For 2004 Crimes

A former Navy employee, who had been living under a false identity after faking his death, has been arrested for allegedly choking a man to death and setting two others on fire nearly 20 years back.

Balesh Kumar, now 60, was arrested after Delhi Police received information that a man wanted for a 2004 murder in Delhi's Bawana locality was living at Najafgarh, nearly 30 km away. Kumar had changed his name to Aman Singh and had been working as a property dealer, Delhi Police crime branch senior officer Ravinder Yadav said.

When the police arrested Kumar following an investigation that confirmed their suspicions, chilling details came to the fore.

Originally from Haryana, Kumar had studied till Class 8. He joined the Navy in 1981 and retired in 1996. After that, he started a transport business and lived in Delhi's Uttam Nagar with his family.

Kumar has told police that he and his brother Sunder Lal had choked a person named Rajesh at Delhi's Samaypur Badli in 2004. He has said the three were drinking when an altercation broke out over an alleged extramarital affair between Kumar and Rajesh's wife. The argument turned to a scuffle, and Kumar and his brother, both intoxicated, choked Rajesh to death.

Kumar then plotted an escape plan. He hired two labourers from Bihar, Manoj and Mukesh, from Delhi's Samaypur Badli, and promised them work. The three then left for Rajasthan in a truck belonging to Kumar's brother. At Jodhpur, Kumar allegedly set the truck on fire, with the labourers inside. He then left his documents inside. When police reached the spot, one of the bodies was identified as that of Kumar's. The other body was not identified.

When Rajesh's murder case came up in court, police said Sunder Lal had been arrested and Kumar was dead in the truck fire.

Kumar's wife got his pension benefits and life insurance amount. The insurance for the truck was also routed to his wife. His past identity and crimes had been well covered up, till luck ran out.

Delhi Police have now asked their Jodhpur counterparts to reopen the truck fire case following the new revelations.