Lucknow, Dec 19 (IANS) A cleric in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district was arrested by the police for sexually assaulting a madrassa student and threatening her with life if she approached cops or disclosed it to anyone.
Lucknow: A family phone call regarding his son’s wedding led to the arrest of history-sheeter Sandeep Mishra, who had been on the run after escaping from police custody in 13 years ago. Police had announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head.He was arrested in Banda after an encounter.Mishra (45) was being taken to a court from Banda jail with 12 others on Aug 8, 2012, when he threw chilli powder on the escorting cops and opened fire from a rifle snatched from one of them. In the chaos, all 13 accused fled.While all 12 co-accused were arrested by 2015, Mishra remained absconding.On the radar of the special team that was tasked with tracking down the criminals on the run, Mishra, who had been living as Pappu Tiwari in Pune, got arrested after police intercepted a phone call inviting relatives from UP to Pune for his son’s wedding.”We used multiple methods to keep an eye on elusive criminals, including tip-offs from informers, surveillance, and decoys. For six months, we had been tracking Mishra,” said SP Palash Bansal.The surveillance and tip-offs revealed that Mishra had changed his identity to evade arrest. His wife Shyama had also changed her name to Pooja Tiwari, said Bansal.”The accused managed to stay off police radar by frequently changing locations and limiting contact with relatives. The accused worked in factories and made no contact with the family, and even avoided travelling to Banda in these years,” said an official.The breakthrough came when cops intercepted a call made by his wife to her parents. It raised red flags during surveillance, prompting cops to verify the family details and movements. The cops checked that the names of the parents matched those of the in-laws of the elusive Mishra.After months of quiet tracking and ground verification, police zeroed in on the suspect’s activity as he was to come to attend his son’s wedding in Banda, said a source.
