Double Murder Accused Missing For 9 Months Arrested Near Mumbai

A 20-year-old man on the run since May last year in a case of murder of two persons has been arrested in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said on Sunday.

On May 17, 2023, Raunak Anjani Tiwari and Kishan Sanjay Jha, both aged 18, were killed while another person, Shivam Omprakash Mishra, was injured in the incident at Shirdi Nagar in Nalla Sopara area in Palghar, Achole police station's senior inspector Balasaheb Pawar said.

The police found partly burnt bodies of the victims who also had head injuries. The two victims and Mishra were friends.

The police suspected Mishra's role in the killing of the two persons and kept a tab on him even while he was being treated at a hospital, the official said.

He had applied for a pre-arrest bail which was rejected by the court as the police presented a strong case against him. Since the rejection of his bail plea, Mishra went missing and the police launched a search for him, the official said.

The police probe team worked on various leads, including CCTV footage of the crime spot and technical and intelligence inputs, and arrested Mishra from Nalla Sopara on Saturday, he said.