Gorakhpur: Mohammad Shamim, a convicted fugitive and prime accused in the 2007 communal riots in Gorakhpur, has been arrested and lodged in jail, police said on Saturday.
Shamim, who was absconding for 16 years after getting bail, was arrested on Monday but police abstained from sharing the information for security reasons, they added.
In January 2007, communal clashes broke out here after the death of a Hindu man during a Muharram procession in the Kotwali area. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was the then MP from Gorakhpur. Rajkumar Agrahari, a resident of the Kotwali area, died after he was brutally attacked by Shamim and his associates with swords and knives, following which communal tension spread in Gorakhpur.
After the incident, a case was registered in connection with Agrahari's murder and two suspects -- Shamim and his father -- were arrested, Kotwali Circle Officer (CO) Anurag Singh said.
Shamim got bail in August 2007 after which he absconded, Singh said, adding that a court, in 2012, sentenced Shamim and his father Shafiqullah to life imprisonment in the murder case.
Shamim was finally arrested on Monday, 16 years after the incident, the CO said.
During the investigation, it was revealed that after getting bail in 2007, Shamim absconded and went to Chennai, Singh said.
When he returned to Gorakhpur and started living in a rented house at Nizampur in the Kotwali area, information about his whereabouts was received that led to the arrest, the CO said.
Shamim's father Shafiqullah is already lodged in jail, he added.
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