New Delhi, Dec 5 (UNI) Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested a man, declared a proclaimed offender in a 2017 matricide case, who had been absconding for over five years after jumping interim bail, an official said on Friday.
According to the police, he was apprehended near the Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district following months of sustained surveillance and technical tracking.
The accused, identified as a 42-year-old man, Animesh Jha, a Dwarka resident, had been declared a proclaimed offender in October 2024 by a Dwarka court in connection with an FIR registered under Section 302 of the IPC.
He was granted interim bail in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic but failed to return for trial and fled to Nepal, evading law enforcement since then.
The case dates back to February 28, 2017, when police at Dwarka North police station received a distress call from the daughter of the deceased. She reported that her mother had been unreachable for several days and suspected her brother, with whom the victim often had heated arguments.
Upon reaching the residence, police discovered the woman’s body. Jha was arrested shortly after and, according to investigators, confessed that he killed his mother, believing she intended to transfer her property to his sister.
“During the investigation, the team combined ground intelligence with advanced mobile-based surveillance to track Jha’s movements across the Indo-Nepal border region. On the intervening night of December 3-4, officers intercepted him on Nautan Road in Sonauli,” said Harsh Indora, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime).
The DCP in his statement said that Jha, a B.Tech graduate, had struggled with alleged drug dependency and frequently clashed with his mother before the crime.
“His arrest, officials added, reinforces the Crime Branch’s commitment to pursuing long-absconding offenders and ensuring court proceedings are not derailed by fugitives,” DCP Indora further mentioned.
Jha has been brought back to Delhi and will be produced before the court to face trial in the seven-year-old murder case, the officer said, adding that further investigation into this case is ongoing.
