Man, on the run for 23 years after killing sister-in-law, arrested in Thane

A 52-year-old man on the run for 23 years after allegedly murdering his sister-in-law and kidnapping his nephew has been arrested from Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Mohammad Tarbez Mohammad Idris Ansari, was on Monday apprehended from Dombivli town, where he was living under a fake identity for two decades, an official said.

According to the police, Ansari had allegedly killed his younger brother's first wife and kidnapped his five-month-old nephew in Virar town of Palghar district in 2002.

Senior Inspector Aviraj Kurhade of the MBVV said that on June 6, 2002, the accused and his brother's second wife, Afrin Banu, allegedly brutally murdered Shabana Parvin (30) by slitting her throat with a sharp weapon, and they kidnapped her five-month-old son.

The Virar police had registered a case under IPC sections 302 (murder), 363 (kidnapping), and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), he said.

The victim was the first wife of Ansari's younger brother, and Afrin Banu was the latter's second wife, the official said.

Investigations revealed that Ansari was opposed to his younger brother's marriage to the victim and later forced him to marry Afrin Banu, he said.

Assistant police inspector Datta Sarak said the police received a tip-off that the accused was hiding in Dombivli, and they raided his rented room on Monday.

He said the accused had initially fled to Lucknow, where he lived for three years, before relocating to Dombivli, where he spent the last 20 years under a false identity.

According to the police, the second accused, Afrin Banu, surrendered in 2015 but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The kidnapped child, now a 23-year-old man, currently lives with his father and stepmother in Lucknow.