A 59-year-old man, who was arrested in a murder and rioting case in 1984 and managed to evade arrest for 35 years after being bailed out, was nabbed by the police earlier last week. The Trombay police arrested Prakash Murarilal Ratan alias Pakya from Ambedkar Nagar slums in Cuffe Parade, where he has been hiding for more than 20 years.
However, the PAN card recovered from him following the arrest, revealed his name as Prakash Balmikee. Investigators claim that they could not trace him for the past 35 years because of the name change.
An officer from Trombay police station said, “In 1984, Prakash stayed at Baiganwadi area in Shivaji Nagar. He was a local goon then and following a tussle with another local goon – who was also a Shiv Sena worker – Prakash and his aide stabbed him to death.”
Baiganwadi area currently falls in the jurisdiction of Shivaji Nagar police station but in 1984, it was in Trombay police station’s jurisdiction due to which a case of rioting with murder was registered at Trombay. Prakash and his aide were arrested in the case. However, in one and half years, he managed to get bail.
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“There was a condition that he had to appear before court for every hearing, but as he failed to do that, the court declared him an absconder. As the case was registered with Trombay police station then, we were assigned the duty to trace him,” the officer said.
The police said that they contacted his family members whose names and numbers were noted in case papers. But as he wasn’t in touch with anyone, there was no clue on his whereabouts.
During the course of investigation, the police first went to the Baiganwadi area, where he had stayed earlier.
“We met one senior citizen who knew him and he told us that Prakash was into selling garlands. The senior citizen also said last he had heard that Prakash was staying in Cuffe Parade with his son,” police officer said.
Subsequently the team looked for him at different slum areas in Cuffe Parade after which they took help of the nearby police station who, with the help of local informers, traced the culprit.
Prakash, after his re-arrest told Trombay police that as soon as he got bail, he shifted to Vikhroli, where he got married and had a son. He stayed there for five years. Later he shifted to Konkan for a couple of years after which he came back to Mumbai and stayed with his son at Ambedkar Nagar in Cuffe Parade. Ambedkar Nagar is opposite Cuffe parade police station and there, he was involved in making and selling garlands.
“In between, his wife expired,” said the officer.“We took him to the police station and produced him in court. He was remanded in judicial custody,” he added.
Surjitt Sahani
