Mumbai: Man who changed identity after assaulting woman held after 11 years

In December 2010 a 28yearold construction labourer was booked by Nehru Nagar police for brutally assaulting a woman in Kurla East The accused was untraceable On Thursday when the police finally arrested Raja Bhimrao Rampure they found that he had changed his religion and name assuming a new identity to evade arrest states a report in The Indian ExpressRampure now 38 and officially Mohamed Riyaaz Shaikh was arrested from Bhiwandi where he had been living since 2011The Nehru Nagar police said that in 2010 the accused was a resident of Vatsalabai Naik Nagar in Kurla East He used to live with his wife and daughterldquoWith two other men he had assaulted a middleaged woman The three were renovating the complainantrsquos house and there was a heated argument between them over payment In the fit of rage they had beaten her with bamboo and wooden sticksrdquo said subinspector Dyaneshwar Patil of Nehru Nagar police stationThe police are now trying to trace the woman who had lodged a complaint at the time A case was registered under Sections 326 voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means 323 voluntarily causing hurt 504 intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and 34 common intention of the IPC The two other workers were arrested and subsequently chargesheeted in April 2011 The police said that Rampure had escaped with his family from his rented home in Kurla They went to Solapur his hometown for a brief while And when they returned he had a new identityldquoHe is married to a Muslim woman so in 2011 he decided to mislead the police by changing his religionrdquo said Patil Rampure became Mohamed Riyaaz Shaikh ldquoWe have seized his PAN card and Aadhar card and in both his documents his name is Mohamed Riyaaz Shaikhrdquo said an officerPatil who is tasked with locating accused persons who are absconding had recently received a tipoff that Rampure may be living in Vashi Naka area He said that he started looking for Rampure 15 days ago after his name came up during a discussion with his subordinatesldquoWe were checking the register in which we maintain the names of wanted criminals from our jurisdiction When we were going to Vatsalabai Naik Nagar to find out about other accused we visited the rented place where Rampure used to live During inquiry we befriended a few localsrdquo said an officerWhen the officials visited Vatsalabai Naik Nagar to take an update a local who they had befriended with them gave an address of Bharat Nagar area in Vashi Naka The officials were told that this was Rampurersquos new address The investigators visited the address at Bharat Nagar area but they did not find him They returned to Vatsalabai Naik Nagar in Kurla on Wednesday night A local then gave information about a distant relative of RampureldquoWe were told that the distant relative is a frequent visitor of the area He too had stayed at Vatsalabai Naik nagar in Kurla but around 2010 he had shifted to Govandirdquo said an officer The police then asked a local to call the man to Kurla early on Thursday ldquoThe distant relative did not know that Rampure was booked as an accused in the caserdquo said an officer After getting his address out of him the team went to Rampurersquos residence at Gayatri Nagar area in Bhiwandi on ThursdayldquoAfter we reached his house we were told that he works at a construction site in Ulhasnagar and he comes home once every 15 days So we lied to his wife as well and told her that we need to record his statement in a case and asked him to come to Khemani road in Ulhasnagarrdquo said an officerRampure came to Khemani Road but immediately sensed something was amiss and tried to escape ldquoBut we managed to get hold of him and brought him to the police station for inquiryrdquo He tried misleading the investigators as he maintained that he was not the one the police were looking for ldquoHe kept telling us that he is Shaikh and the person we were looking for is a Hindu He had grown a beard so that to the confusionrdquo said PatilHowever the police then called the distant relatives who identified him The Nehru Nagar police then arrested him ldquoDuring sustained interrogation he confessed to the crime and revealed that he had changed his name and religion to avoid arrestrdquo said senior police inspector Vilas Shinde The accused was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody