LUCKNOW: A man convicted for the 2008 dacoity-cum-murder of a security guard at a fertilizer company in Gujarat, who had remained on the run for over 15 years after escaping from police custody, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) from Ayodhya on Saturday.The accused, Ghanshyam Verma alias Karan alias Baba, a native of Gonda district, was apprehended from a CEAT tyre dealership on the Saadatganj Bypass under the Cantt police station area of Ayodhya during a joint operation conducted by the UP STF and the Gujarat Police.According to the STF, Ghanshyam was one of the accused in the February 16, 2008 dacoity at the Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company (GNFC) in Bharuch district, during which a security guard was murdered. A case under Section 396 (dacoity with murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Bharuch A-Division Police Station. Following trial, a Gujarat court sentenced him to life imprisonment on September 1, 2009.He was initially lodged in Junagadh Jail before being shifted to Vadodara Central Jail. On January 2, 2011, while being escorted to SSG Hospital in Vadodara for medical treatment, he allegedly shoved the escorting constable and escaped from custody. A separate case was subsequently registered against him under Section 224 of the IPC for escaping lawful custody at Raopura Police Station in Vadodara. He was also wanted in an Arms Act case registered in 2013 at Vapi Township Police Station in Gujarat’s Valsad district.With the fugitive remaining untraceable for over 15 years, the Gujarat Police sought assistance from the Uttar Pradesh STF. The arrest was made by a joint team led by STF and Valsad Police.STF said that during interrogation, Ghanshyam allegedly told investigators that he had left his native village at the age of 14 and moved to Ludhiana with his father, where he learnt wheel-balancing and automobile repair work. He later shifted to Surat, where he allegedly came into contact with criminals and became involved in the Bharuch dacoity-cum-murder.After escaping from custody in 2011, he fled to Amritsar, where he worked as a motor mechanic under an assumed identity for several years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to his native village in Gonda before relocating to Ayodhya two to three years later. Police said he had been working as a wheel-balancing mechanic at the tyre dealership on the Saadatganj Bypass while successfully evading arrest.Following his arrest, the accused was lodged at Cantt Police Station in Ayodhya in connection with the pending Gujarat cases. Officials from the Valsad Police have initiated legal proceedings to secure his transit remand so that he can be taken back to Gujarat to face the remaining judicial process.Police said Ghanshyam’s criminal record includes the 2008 dacoity-cum-murder case in Bharuch, the 2011 escape from lawful custody case in Vadodara and a 2013 Arms Act case registered in Valsad. His arrest brings to an end a 15-year manhunt spanning multiple states.
