Mumbai: Serial killer caught after 17 years of eluding the law

The Crime Branch in Vasai arrested a 40yearold serial killer from Bengaluru The killer Niranjan Kumar a native of Biharrsquos Saran district had been changing his locations identities as well and profession in different states to remain at large despite committing heinous five murdersldquoThe killer is a master of disguise who left behind a trail of deception and fear He would work as a plumber security guard in a garage box packaging firm etc to maintain a low profile by changing his aliasrdquo said a police officialInspector Sameer Ahirrao of Crime Branch Unit 2 Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar MBVV police said ldquoKumar first killed his stepmother and stepsiblings in West Bengal in 2002 and later killed his best friend in 2008 in Vasai lsquobut he was never caught in any casersquoThe Crime Branch officials have been investigating the unsolved cases registered at different police stations in the MBVV police commissionerate ldquoWe were probing into a murder case of 2008 registered at Manikpur police station The deceased Manoj Sah was the best friend of Kumar who killed him by banging his head against a wall later strangled him using a shoelace and left for Surat where he remained underground by changing his identityrdquo said another officer privy to the investigationPicHanif PatelInspector Ahirrao said ldquoKumar told us that his mother died when he was too young so his father got married to a woman who would allegedly illtreat him He claimed that his father would also not take care of him properly So he killed his stepmother two step sisters aged six and seven years old and a stepbrother who was only two years old in 2002 in the Haldia district of West BengalrdquoldquoThough Kumarrsquos father had registered a murder case at a police station in Haldia but the case remained unsolved as the killer had left the state and absconded to Maharashtrardquo Ahirrao saidldquoHe initially lived in Navi Mumbai before moving to Vasai where he befriended Manoj Sah who got him a job for survival They had been living in a chawl area in Vasai but over some dispute Kumar killed Sah in 2008 and left Maharashtra for neighbouring statersquos Surat cityrdquo Ahirrao saidAfter scanning the case files of Sah the Crime Branch officers reached his hometown in Chhapra city of Saran district in BiharldquoHis neighbours and relatives told us that Kumar hardly visited once or twice since 2002 Though he had snapped contact with all his relatives he had got a voter ID card made in Bihar and through human intelligence network we managed to get his mobile numberrdquo Ahirrao saidThe investigation team retrieved the call data records CDR and checked his mobile tower location which was Bengaluru After getting the technical details another team was dispatched to Bengaluru and Kumar was nabbed after 17 yearsldquoKumar was working as a plumber in Bengaluru He changed his name to Raju Ajay Vijay Shukla Niranjan Kumar Ranjan etc to conceal his identity We have been told that his father died in 2015 He was living with a woman who he married in 2020rdquo said AhirraoKumar will be produced before the local court in Vasai to seek his police custody for further investigation