Soured relationship blows cover of killer in hiding
A man arrested by the Panvel police for raping his live-in partner under the pretext of marriage turned out to be a murderer who fled a prison in Bhopal in 2011 and was hiding in plain sight in Mumbai for the past five years.
Dharmendra Babulal, 36, had been sentenced to life after he committed a murder in Bhopal in 2004. In 2011, he was among some prisoners who staged a mass jailbreak at Bhopal central jail. He fled to Mumbai, changed his name and tried to make himself untraceable. And almost succeeded.
On January 2, a woman registered a case of rape and causing hurt under the pretext of marriage against one Abrar Khan, who she lived with. On January 4, the Panvel police managed to arrest him from the Panvel ST bus stand. According to senior police inspector Sunil Bajare, he was in police custody till January 9. “When we started interrogating him, he started concocting many stories. Finally, he revealed that he was in Bhopal jail for close to seven years and his real name was Dharmendra Babulal,” said Bajare. The Panvel police then contacted the Bhopal jail and sent his pictures across to cross check his story, and they confirmed that it was him.
The cops are not sure when he came to Panvel, but sources claim that he had been living in Mumbai for the past five years. “He had multiple identities which spread across religions. He was also known as Bhairav Singh. Currently, he was living with the complainant in a small one-room apartment as Abrar Khan,” officers investigating the matter said. “Our custody ends on January 9. We still have to decide what to do with him, and which police can claim him,” said an officer from the Panvel police.
Dharmendra Babulal, 36, had been sentenced to life after he committed a murder in Bhopal in 2004. In 2011, he was among some prisoners who staged a mass jailbreak at Bhopal central jail. He fled to Mumbai, changed his name and tried to make himself untraceable. And almost succeeded.
On January 2, a woman registered a case of rape and causing hurt under the pretext of marriage against one Abrar Khan, who she lived with. On January 4, the Panvel police managed to arrest him from the Panvel ST bus stand. According to senior police inspector Sunil Bajare, he was in police custody till January 9. “When we started interrogating him, he started concocting many stories. Finally, he revealed that he was in Bhopal jail for close to seven years and his real name was Dharmendra Babulal,” said Bajare. The Panvel police then contacted the Bhopal jail and sent his pictures across to cross check his story, and they confirmed that it was him.
“The Bhopal police had been unable to trace him and had declared him wanted after registering a case of jailbreak,” Bajare informed.
The cops are not sure when he came to Panvel, but sources claim that he had been living in Mumbai for the past five years. “He had multiple identities which spread across religions. He was also known as Bhairav Singh. Currently, he was living with the complainant in a small one-room apartment as Abrar Khan,” officers investigating the matter said. “Our custody ends on January 9. We still have to decide what to do with him, and which police can claim him,” said an officer from the Panvel police.
