The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a proclaimed offender who had been absconding for nearly two decades in a 2005 abduction-for-ransom and murder case involving an engineering student in Thiruvananthapuram, with links traced to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The accused, identified as Durga Bahadur Bhat Chetri alias Deepak, was tracked and arrested on Friday after years of evading law enforcement. Officials said he had remained absconding since the initial stages of the investigation and was later declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court.
According to the agency, the case pertains to the abduction and killing of Shyamal Mandal, a student of the College of Engineering Thiruvananthapuram. The victim had gone missing in 2005, after which his family received a ransom call. His body was later recovered on October 23, 2005, confirming the murder.
Investigators found that the accused, originally linked to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands along with co-accused Mohammed Ali, had concealed his identity following the crime. He allegedly assumed a false identity as Suraj B. Bhatt, married, and settled in Nagpur to avoid detection.
The probe revealed that both accused were involved in the crime. While the CBI filed a chargesheet against them after completing the investigation, Chetri remained at large, delaying proceedings against him. The co-accused Mohammed Ali was tried separately and convicted in 2022.
The case was initially investigated by state police but was later transferred to the CBI following a directive from the Kerala High Court. The central agency re-registered the case on December 31, 2008, and continued efforts to trace the absconding accused.
Despite the filing of charges, Chetri managed to evade arrest for years by changing identities and relocating. Officials said sustained tracking efforts eventually led to his arrest, bringing a key development in a long-pending case.
The agency stated that the accused will be produced before the jurisdictional court in Ernakulam, where it will seek custody for further interrogation. Authorities are expected to examine his role in detail as part of ongoing legal proceedings.
