Murder Convict Pradeep Saxena Became Abdul Rahim, Caught 36 Years Later

Time and documents have something in common - they do not forget. Thirty-six years back, Pradeep Saxena from Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly escaped the police net after he was convicted of murdering his brother and sentenced to life imprisonment. He changed his religion, his name and his appearance, but the law caught up with him.

In 1987, Saxena was named an accused after his brother was murdered. He was convicted in 1989. Saxena jumped parole and managed to slip off the radar.

He fled to Moradabad, about 100 km away, and took a new avatar -- Abdul Rahim. He grew a beard and started working as a driver. As decades went by, Saxena-turned-Abdul thought he had left his past -- and his punishment -- behind.

The law had other plans. On October 16, the Allahabad High Court ordered the police to present Saxena within four weeks. The cops went back to the dusty case files, and a team was formed to find the missing accused.

When the police contacted Saxena's brother, Suresh, still living in Bareilly, they learnt that the murder convict had changed his religion and identity. On further investigation, they learnt that Saxena had actually come to Bareilly for some work, confident that the police had forgotten about him. But they had not. He was arrested and produced in court.

"During questioning, he confessed that he is Pradeep Kumar Saxena and that he had jumped parole in 1989. He started living in Moradabad and changed his religion in 2002 to escape court action. He was produced in court yesterday," a police statement said.

Bareilly city police chief Manush Parikh told the media that Saxena was convicted of murder and theft in the 1987 case. "Pradeep Saxena had appealed the sentence in the high court and then jumped parole. When the high court asked police to arrest him, we found he had concealed his identity and changed his religion to escape the law."

The senior police officer said Saxena married a Muslim woman in Moradabad and lived there. "He was convicted of his brother's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has been arrested 36 years later," he said.

Inputs by Randeep Singh