Life Convict Held After 26 Years For 1995 Kidnapping 1 Crore Ransom

A 57-year-old man, who was convicted for life in a ₹1 crore ransom and kidnapping case registered 31 years ago at central Delhi’s Patel Nagar police station, was arrested by the crime branch from Uttarakhand, more than 26 years after he absconded following his release from Tihar jail on interim bail, police said on Monday.

The life convict fugitive, identified as Amit Yadav, was arrested on August 13 from Dehradun in Uttarakhand, where he had been living since 2001 after changing his identification details and established a new life under a changed identity, said special commissioner of police (crime) HGS Dhaliwal.

“Yadav’s interrogation disclosed that after securing one-month interim bail from the Delhi High Court, he absconded and did not return to jail. He first vacated his rented house in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad. Thereafter, he sold all his ancestral property in Baghpat and shifted to Rishikesh, where he frequently changed his hideouts for almost a year. He then shifted to Dehradun,” said Dhaliwal.

Police said the case in which Yadav had been absconding pertained to the kidnapping of Rishi Sethi for ₹1 crore ransom. On September 12, 1995, Sethi was sitting in his car when three to four people forcibly overpowered him, assaulted, blindfolded, and abducted him in his own car. He was then taken to an unknown place and illegally confined.

“The kidnappers demanded a ransom of ₹ 1 crore from Sethi’s family against his safe release. On their directions, a ransom anmount of ₹10 lakh was kept in room number 221 of Hotel Mayur in Meerut. On September 16 the same year, accused Amit Yadav was arrested after he collected the money. He led the raiding team to his house at Raj Nagar in Ghaziabad from where Sethi was safely rescued. He was found illegally confined and chained inside a storeroom. Yadav was 31 when he committed the crime,” said Dhaliwal.

On August 25, 1999, the city court convicted Yadav and sentenced him to life imprisonment along with a fine of ₹2.5 lakh. Yadav appealed before the Delhi High Court and he was granted interim bail for one month on January 15, 2000. However, he failed to surrender thereafter and absconded.

On December 14, 2000, his appeal was dismissed by the high court, thereby confirming his conviction and sentence. He was declared a proclaimed offender and a reward of ₹5,000 was declared for his arrest. Despite efforts by various agencies, he continued to evade arrest.

“The team members first traced the biometric details of the accused, which had been recorded at the time of his conviction in 1999. These records proved crucial in establishing the identity of the absconding life convict. Further, through technical investigation and field intelligence gathering, our team members located the suspect in Dehradun and arrested him on August 13,” added Dhaliwal.

Police said Yadav was sent to Tihar jail.

Karn Pratap Singh has been writing on crime, policing, and issues of safety in Delhi for almost a decade. He covers high-intensity spot news, including terror strikes, serial blasts and security threats in the national capital.Read More