MADIKERI: An accused in a murder case, who had escaped from the custody of the police during spot inspection at Uppal in Hyderabad has been arrested again by the Kodagu district police from Rajasthan. The accused is Ankur Rana, who hails from Karnal in Haryana.
Ankur Rana had been arrested from Haridwar in Uttarakhand in connection with the murder of Ramesh Kumar (54), a real estate businessman from Telangana. Ramesh’s wife Niharika killed him to take over Rs 8 crore worth of assets of her husband. She committed the crime with the help of her paramour and a friend, both identified as Ankur Rana, and Nikhil Myreddy, hailing from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and a resident of Bengaluru.
The accused had strangulated Ramesh to death in Uppal, Hyderabad, and then drove in the victim’s car to Bengaluru before proceeding to Kodagu to dispose of the body near Panya Estate in Suntikoppa police limits. Niharika was arrested on October 22.
The police had taken Ankur Rana to Hyderabad for spot inspection (mahazar) with a team of 13 people including two panchayat staffers when he managed to escape from their custody. Kodagu Police Superintendent K Ramarajan said the team had stayed overnight at a lodge on October 30 after the spot inspection. The next morning, Ankur Rana had managed to free himself from the handcuffs, stolen the mobile phone of a police personnel and had escaped. A case regarding this was registered at the local police station.
Following this, a special team was formed to trace Ankur Rana, who was finally nabbed from Rajasthan, the SP added.