Fugitive wanted in sensational Sarita Vihar murder two years ago arrested
Delhi Police arrested fugitive Somnath Patro, prime accused in the 2023 Sarita Vihar murder of Ardhendu Mandal, after two years on the run. He was traced and caught hiding in Gurugram.
New Delhi: A fugitive wanted in a sensational murder case in the Sarita Vihar police station area was arrested by police on Thursday after being apprehended from Gurugram, following two years on the run.
The 27-year-old man, Somnath Patro, was the prime accused in the 2023 Sarita Vihar murder of a man and had been evading arrest since then.
Somnath Patro was declared a proclaimed offender by a Delhi court in the case and had been a wanted man ever since.
On September 15, 2023, a 39-year-old man, Ardhendu Mandal, residing at House No. C-143, Gali No. 9, Aali Vihar in Sarita Vihar, was brutally murdered by the accused and his accomplices using a knife.
The crime led to the registration of FIR No. 491/2023 on September 16, 2023, under Sections 147/148/149/174A/302/323/34 IPC at Sarita Vihar police station in South-East Delhi.
Five accused persons were arrested in connection with the murder, but Somnath, one of the prime accused, had been evading police for the past two years. The trial court had declared him a proclaimed offender in the case.
The Anti-Narcotics Squad of the Delhi Police had been on the lookout for Somnath to bring him to justice.
The squad mounted technical and manual surveillance on the fugitive’s movement. Eventually, Head Constable Mohit Vashisth traced him in Gurugram, where he had been hiding under an assumed identity.
Through a well-coordinated operation, a team of the Anti-Narcotics Squad comprising SI Sudhir, ASI Upender, and Head Constables Mohit, Karamveer, Kuldeep, and Pradeep, led by Inspector Vishnu Dutt, raided and apprehended Somnath Patro near Lohiya Farms in the Bhondsi area of Gurugram, Haryana.
On sustained interrogation, Somnath revealed that he had been living under the police radar for the last two years by working as a delivery boy and frequently changing mobile numbers by using different phones to avoid detection.
At the time of the crime, Somnath resided at Jhuggi No. 02, New Priyank Camp, near Kali Mandir, Sarita Vihar in Delhi and worked as a delivery boy. He was previously involved in another case, with an FIR filed against him at CR Park police station in Delhi.