Lucknow: Ending a seven-year manhunt, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested Monu Yadav alias Abhimanyu Yadav, a ₹50,000 reward-carrying fugitive wanted since 2019 in the abduction, murder and robbery of a taxi driver in Lucknow.He was arrested from Didwana in Rajasthan, where he was allegedly living under concealment and working at a private industrial unit, the STF said.Officials said Yadav was wanted in Case Crime No. 412/2019 registered at Sarojini Nagar police station under IPC Sections 364 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 394 (robbery), 414 (assisting in concealment of stolen property), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention). Acting on inputs developed by the STF’s Kanpur field unit, a team traced him to Satya Industries near Khandelwal Sweets in Didwana and arrested him on July 15.During interrogation, Yadav allegedly confessed that he and associates Mithilesh Pandey, Chhotu Singh and Mohan Yadav hired a taxi on July 14, 2019, claiming they needed to travel to Lucknow airport. Investigators alleged the group murdered the driver, Shubham Pandey, dumped his body in a canal and fled with the vehicle to Varanasi.The STF said Yadav initially escaped to Bengaluru, working as a bus conductor, before relocating to Rajasthan to evade arrest. He was handed over to Lucknow Police for further legal proceedings.
