Police in India’s Uttar Pradesh have arrested a wanted criminal who had escaped imprisonment for 15 years by pretending to be dead.
According to reports, family members of the prime suspect, Aniraj Singh, had submitted a fake death certificate to the police showing that he had died in the fire tragedy in Meerut in the 2006.
“During an inquiry, it was found that to avoid life imprisonment, he had made a fake death certificate and was working as a security guard in Uttarakhand’s Rudrapur with his wife and children,” the official said.
Singh had come out of jail on bail for a few days in 2004 and then did not appear before the court on the scheduled day of his case hearing following which the police started a manhunt. However, authorities stopped investigations into his case after receiving his fake death certificate.
The 2006 Meerut Fire tragedy happened on the evening of April 10, 2006. Around 67 people lost their lives in the tragedy. The fire spread through a consumer fair among about 2,000 people in Victoria Park in the city, creating panic and rush.
