NEW DELHI: Two months after a 65-year-old woman was found strangled and robbed at her Rohini home, Delhi Police have arrested her tenant, who had allegedly fled across multiple states to evade arrest. Police said the accused, identified as Himanshu Yadav, worked as a salesman and was under severe financial stress due to long-pending rent dues. He allegedly told interrogators that he felt “humiliated” and was slapped by the landlady days before the murder, which pushed him to plan the crime. The murder was reported on October 7, when the victim’s son, an MCD inspector, returned and found her lying dead on a bed on the ground floor. Scratch marks around her neck indicated strangulation, and the jewellery she was wearing—gold earrings and a ring—along with her mobile phone, were missing. She lived alone while her children stayed separately. A case was registered and a team led by Inspector Ajay Sharma under the supervision of DCP (Crime) Pankaj Kumar began scanning CCTV footage from the area. Police spotted a man leaving the locality at an unusually early hour and identified him as Yadav, one of the tenants. His phone was found switched off soon after, deepening suspicion. The search for the accused spanned eight states. Investigators examined over 1,000 CCTV cameras and tracked leads in Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana and Delhi as Yadav kept changing locations every few days. Acting on a tip-off that he was returning to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh to meet relatives and intended to flee to Nepal, police laid a trap and arrested him at Japanese Park in Rohini. Police said Yadav entered the woman’s room while she was asleep. When she woke up and recognised him, he allegedly strangled her before she could raise an alarm. He removed the jewellery and fled without searching the house further. According to police, Yadav mortgaged the stolen jewellery in Bhiwani, Haryana, and received Rs 70,000. He remained on the run for nearly 75 days, frequently switching states to avoid detection.
