Palghar murder accused woman on run for 5 years held from Mumbai

Palghar: A woman accused in a 2020 murder case in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has been arrested from Mumbai after absconding for more than five years, police said on Sunday.

The accused, Dolrin Afrin Ahmed Khan (27), resident of Nallasopara area, allegedlystrangulated Pradeep Dayashankar Rai (23) to death on February 12, 2020 at Arnala in Palghar and then staged the scene to make it appear as a suicide, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Madan Ballal said.

A preliminary probe suggested a monetary dispute between the accused and the man, a resident of Badlapur in neighbouring Thane district, as the motive behind the crime, he said.

An FIR was then registered under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

As the woman remained at large, the police had filed a chargesheet under Section 299 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which permits recording of evidence in the absence of an absconding accused, the official said.

“Over the past four months, our team intensified efforts to trace her. Acting on a specific tip-off, we located her at Kandivali in Mumbai

and arrested her on October 10. She has now been handed over to Arnala police for further investigation,” Ballal said.