n a case of honour killing that has resurfaced after over a decade, the Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested a 45-year-old man who had been absconding for 13 years after murdering a youth for allegedly being in a relationship with his cousin sister, police said on Thursday.
The accused, Rajeev alias Kallu alias Itwari, was nabbed from Delhi’s Prem Nagar area after an operation by the North Range-I of the Crime Branch.
The case dates back to December 2009 where Rajeev, along with his father Rameshwar Dyal and associate Lakhan, conspired and murdered 22-year-old Sunil Kumar to put an end to his relationship with Rajeev’s cousin.
The victim, a resident of Sant Nagar in Burari, was last seen on December 27, 2009. A missing complaint was lodged by his father, Kumar Kant Chaudhary, at Burari police station. Days later, Sunil’s body was recovered from a village in Ghaziabad, prompting police to convert the missing case into a murder investigation.
The initial probe led to the arrest of all three accused. Police found that Sunil had been kidnapped and later killed as a result of what they termed a “love angle†that had enraged Rajeev and his family.
In what now clearly stands out as a case of honour killing, the accused saw the victim’s relationship with their female family member as an unacceptable threat to their social standing. All three were sent to judicial custody after their arrest.
However, in February 2013, Rajeev was granted a 15-day interim bail by the court following the death of his mother. Instead of surrendering upon the expiry of bail, he absconded. On September 5, 2013, the court declared him a proclaimed offender (PO) and he remained untraceable for more than a decade. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Harsh Indora, Rajeev had been deliberately and systematically evading law enforcement. After jumping bail, he escaped to Nepal, where he lived with his in-laws for more than six months.
He then relocated to Bengaluru and assumed a new identity—Bobby, son of Shri Ram. To avoid detection, he frequently changed his jobs, lived in rented accommodations and worked mainly as a driver.
The breakthrough came when Crime Branch teams, under the overall supervision of ACP Ashok Sharma, received credible intelligence that Rajeev might visit his native home in Prem Nagar on June 18, 2025. A well-coordinated raid was carried out, and Rajeev was finally apprehended.
During interrogation, Rajeev confessed to the murder, stating that he, along with Lakhan and his father Rameshwar, planned and executed Sunil Kumar’s killing. They lured the victim, killed him, and disposed of his body in a village in Ghaziabad. Rajeev admitted that the sole motive behind the crime was to prevent Sunil from continuing his relationship with his cousin, which he and his family considered dishonourable.
Police sources said that Rajeev is illiterate and was previously working as a property dealer in Prem Nagar. He married a Nepali woman named Neeru who resided in Mangolpuri, Delhi. After going underground in 2013, he managed to live undetected by frequently changing his identity and occupation.
“This arrest highlights the challenges of tracking long-term absconders who use multiple false identities and shift across states. But it also underlines the tragic persistence of honour killings in urban societies where caste, gender, and family reputation still dictate brutal outcomes,†said a senior Crime Branch officer.
Further investigation into the case is ongoing.
