Delhi’s law enforcement has achieved a stunning victory by arresting a fugitive linked to a horrific 1991 murder, closing a chapter on one of the city’s coldest cases. Chhavi Lal Verma, the main perpetrator, was captured in Ludhiana after evading authorities for 35 years.
It was a fateful night of August 2, 1991, when police responded to an emergency call in West Vinod Nagar. The scene was gruesome: the house owner, a woman in her mid-50s, had multiple throat slashes from a chopper and was barely alive. Her young son bore facial gashes. Despite medical efforts at LNJP Hospital, the mother died, but the son pulled through.
The tenant, Verma, had plotted a robbery, sneaking into her room under cover of darkness. When confronted, he unleashed a savage attack on both. Declared a proclaimed offender in 1996, he slipped through the cracks for decades.
The Crime Branch’s Inter-State Cell, led by Inspector Manmeet Malik with ACP Ramesh Chand’s oversight, mounted a sophisticated operation. SIs Naresh Kumar and Sunil Panwar, alongside constables Sunil Kumar, Ashish Malik, Sonu Tomar, and Rajesh Kumar, combined tech tracking, on-ground intel, and persistent inquiries over six months.
Focus shifted to his Uttar Pradesh roots in Sultanpur and family networks, eventually tracing him to Punjab. A precision raid on April 10, 2026, ended his run. Posing as a security guard, Verma had reinvented himself.
His confession painted a clear picture: eyeing the widow’s supposed wealth due to her husband’s overseas job, the botched heist turned deadly. He roamed cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Goa, constantly shifting bases, shunning family ties. This feat highlights the enduring pursuit of justice in India’s policing.
