Rajasthan Police arrests double murder accused absconding for 15 years

Jaipur, Aug 22 (PTI) The Rajasthan Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) has arrested a wanted criminal, who had been absconding for over 15 years, from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Friday.

The accused, identified as Praveen alias Lala, a resident of Nal Bazaar, Kaman (Bharatpur district), was the prime accused in a gruesome double murder case in 2010.

He carried a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh announced by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and had managed to evade multiple police and security agencies across the country for over a decade.

According to officials, on July 29, 2010, Praveen, along with his associates Parsaram, Dalchand, and Bablu, opened fire on the family of the then District and Sessions Judge Rameshwar Dayal Rohilla in Kaman, Bharatpur. The attack, carried out due to an old enmity, led to the brutal killing of the judge's father, Khemchand Rohilla, and brother, Girraj Prasad. The judge's other brother, advocate Rajendra Prasad Rohilla, and two women, Pramila and Anju, were critically injured.

Praveen, the main conspirator, had been on the run ever since. Initially, the Rajasthan Police announced a cash reward of Rs 25,000 for his arrest. In March 2011, the Rajasthan High Court handed over the case to the CBI, which later declared a reward of Rs 5 lakh each on Praveen and his brother Parsaram, terming them the prime accused in the killings. While co-accused Padam Singh and Dalchand were arrested two years later, the brothers remained untraceable.

Under the supervision of Additional Director General (Crime) Dinesh M N, the AGTF prioritised the pursuit of Praveen. Acting on specific intelligence received on August 19, 2025, a special team moved swiftly to the Delhi–Ghaziabad border areas. After days of surveillance and multiple raids, the team tracked Praveen's movements and identified his hideout.

In the early hours of Friday, the AGTF, with assistance from local police, raided his Ghaziabad residence. Praveen had been living under assumed identities using forged documents to conceal his identity. He was finally arrested after what police described as a meticulous and persistent operation.

Officials said further interrogation is underway, and efforts to nab his brother Parsaram, who remains absconding, are being intensified. PTI AG HIG HIG