New Delhi, May 14 : A 57-year-old man, who has been absconding since 2007 after allegedly killing a 22-year-old woman in Delhi, was arrested from the Rohini area, said Crime Branch official on Tuesday.

The accused was identified as Virender Singh, a resident of Vaishali district in Bihar, who rented an apartment in Delhi on June 2, 2007 and killed the woman and then hid the body in a trunk.

"He fled from the spot however, during investigation, co-accused Shankar Ghosh was arrested by Local Police. Virender Singh was absconding and was declared 'Proclaimed Offender' in 2008 by the court," said a senior police official.

Assistant Sub-Inspector (Crime Branch) Ramesh, who was posted at Kalkaji police station and was the beat officer of the area in which the murder was committed, continued to probe the case despite being transferred.

"Ramesh again started gathering information about the accused through other persons, who were directly or indirectly involved in the business of flesh trade. He collected information that accused Virender is hiding in Panipat, Haryana. Few raids were conducted there but the accused could not be traced as he was changing his rented accommodations very frequently," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Amit Goel.

In February, ASI Ramesh was transferred to the Crime Branch and he took the case as a challenge and again started working on it.

"He got specific input about the accused and mobile number being used by him. He carried out technical surveillance and accordingly, on the basis of the photograph of the 'Tenant Verification Form', Virender was apprehended from Vijay Vihar area in Rohini," said the DCP.

During interrogation, it was revealed that he came to Delhi in 1991 and started living in Chittaranjan Park area, while working as a taxi driver. During that period, he came in contact with different persons and came to know about flesh trade.

"In 2001, he brought young girls from West Bengal and then forced them into flesh trade. The victim of the case was purchased by him for Rs 10,000. On June 4, when she refused to go to work due to her illness, he murdered the victim, kept her body inside an iron box, locked it, hid the box inside the rented accommodation and flew away to Kolkata," said the DCP.

Thereafter, he stayed in Siliguri in the house of one of the girls, who used to work for him in Delhi.

"Then, he kept changing his locations in West Bengal. In 2009, he came to Ambala and joined his friend Labhoo who was also involved in the flesh trade. Thereafter, in 2013, he shifted to Panipat and carried out the same business. He came back to Delhi in 2019 and started living in Vijay Vihar. Presently, the accused was working as a commission agent in recruiting young girls who have come from Bihar, West Bengal and other parts of India, as maids in Delhi," said the DCP.

/IANS