Faking death for 19 years, ex-Navy man arrested for murder
The Delhi Police claimed to have arrested a 63-year-old former Indian Navy employee, Balesh Kumar, after nearly two decades for allegedly killing his friend and burning to death two laborers in 2004, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday. Kumar allegedly faked his death for 19 years to escape the law until being apprehended on September 28 in Delhi's Najafgarh. He has been living there with his family under the new identity "Aman Singh" and working as a property dealer.
How Kumar planned to fake his death
On April 18, 2004, Kumar and his brother Sunder Lal allegedly strangled their friend Khushi Ram to death in Bawana, Delhi, during a quarrel and fled. In May 2004, he allegedly set fire to a truck owned by his other brother in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, killing two unsuspecting laborers inside. He then passed off one of the bodies as his own. Initially assumed to be an unintentional fire, fresh revelations forced the Rajasthan Police to resume their investigation into the matter.
Family's involvement under investigation
The police are now reportedly looking into the involvement of Kumar's wife and family members. They are investigating whether they assisted him in the murders or helped him in any way during his years on the run. His wife disappeared after his arrest, and the police have requested a non-bailable warrant against her. They alleged that Kumar started his life afresh after feigning death and brought his wife and their two children to live with him in Najafgarh after 2011.
Know about murder of two laborers
Early investigations indicated that Kumar hired two laborers from Samaypur Badli, a suburb of Delhi, on April 30, 2004, and drove them to Jodhpur in his brother's truck under the guise of loading and unloading work, the police said. In Jodhpur, he gave them alcohol during their meals on May 1, per Ravindra Singh Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch). Once they were intoxicated, Kumar doused the truck with petrol and set it ablaze, killing both laborers, Yadav said.
Life on run, eventual arrest
Kumar reportedly worked as a truck driver in Jalandhar and Panipat for several years while avoiding arrest. In 2011, he settled down in Najafgarh and began working as a property consultant. He was finally arrested on September 28, 2023, in the same locality. The police are now tasked with locating the families of the two laborers killed in the 2004 truck fire.
