After a chase of 16 years, Delhi Police arrested a 57-year-old man for trafficking young women and murdering another, said officials on Tuesday, adding that the accused had been absconding since 2007.
Virender Singh was apprehended from his hideout at Vijay Vihar in Rohini on May 10. A resident of Vaishali in Bihar, Singh had begun trafficking women from West Bengal in 2001 for “easy money”, and in June 2007, had killed a victim of human trafficking and hidden the body at a flat in south Delhi’s Kalkaji, said a senior police officer.
The officer added that while in hiding, Singh had been working as a commission agent in the business of recruiting young girls from West Bengal and Bihar to work as domestic workers.
On June 2, 2007, the complainant — a property dealer — had met with Singh to rent out a property to him. “Singh shifted into the flat with a 22-year-old woman after paying a token sum, and assured the complainant that he would pay the rest the next day. When the complainant contacted Singh for the balance amount, Singh postponed the meeting, citing unavailability, police said.
On June 7, the complainant visited the accommodation and found the place to be locked, with a foul smell emanating from the flat. After police were called and the lock opened, the women’s body was found locked in an iron trunk. It was later found that the woman was a human trafficking victim “purchased” by Singh for ₹10,000, and that he had murdered her after she refused to work in the sex trade due to illness. He had subsequently flown to Kolkata to avoid arrest, police added.
At the time, the case was investigated by ASI Ramesh, who was posted at Kalkaji police station, but the accused remained in hiding. In 2017, Mr. Ramesh reopened the case after being posted back to the police station. “With no other clues except a copy of Singh’s tenant verification form and an old photograph of him, police teams began tracing Singh from Govindpuri and Kalkaji, and found him active in Rohini,” DCP (Crime) Amit Goel said.
