Avinash Pawar changed his name, settled in Mumbai and never went back to Lonavala.
A combination of alcohol and overconfidence has led to a man - who had successfully evaded the police for three decades - spilling details of a double murder and robbery and landing in the Mumbai Crime Branch's net on Friday.
In October 1993, Avinash Pawar and two others had killed a 55-year-old man and his 50-year-old wife while robbing their house in Lonavala. While the other two men were arrested, Pawar, who was 19 years old at the time, managed to escape to Delhi, leaving his mother behind.
He then moved to Maharashtra's Aurangabad, where he got a driving licence in the name of Amit Pawar. From Aurangabad, Pawar went to Pimpri-Chinchwad and Ahmednagar, before finally settling in Mumbai's Vikhroli.
Pawar went on to get an Aadhaar card in his new name, got married and even ensured a successful political career for his wife.
Thirty years went by and Pawar, who is now 49 years old, never looked back. Police sources said that after he left in 1993, he never visited Lonavala, not even to meet his mother or his wife's parents, who also live there.
Confident that he would now never get caught, Pawar spilled the beans on the double murder and robbery to someone during a drinking session a few days ago. Senior Police Inspector and encounter specialist Daya Nayak of the Mumbai Crime Branch was tipped off by the person, and Pawar was arrested from Vikhroli on Friday.
Raj Tilak Roshan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Mumbai Crime Branch), said, "Avinash Pawar is an accused in a double murder in Lonavala 30 years ago. The victims were an old couple who knew Pawar as he owned a shop near their house. He planned to rob their house with two other men and killed the couple during the robbery."
"While the two other accused were arrested, Pawar went on the run and changed his name. He has been arrested from Vikhroli," he added.