Fake IDs, dual lives & a dramatic escape: The 28-yr saga of killer Rajinder Bairagi
Delhi Police have arrested Rajinder Bairagi, a fugitive who had been on the run for 28 years following a 1998 murder. Bairagi had successfully assumed a new identity as a doctor in Madhya Pradesh before his capture.
Why it matters
The case highlights the challenges of tracking fugitives who utilize forged identities to integrate into society over long periods.
NEW DELHI: Ending a nearly three-decade game of hide-and-seek, the Delhi Police crime branch has captured Rajinder Bairagi, a fugitive wanted for the 1998 murder of Haryana Police personnel Jai Bhagwan. Police also claimed to have cracked two attempted murder cases that had remained unsolved since 1997.A former kabaddi player-turned-criminal, Bairagi’s journey into crime began decades earlier in Haryana’s Sonipat, where his involvement in competitive sports brought him into contact with local criminal networks, according to special CP (crime) HGS Dhaliwal.That path culminated in the deadly May 1998 wedding shooting in Saiyan Khera village, where Bairagi and five associates fired indiscriminately following a heated dispute, leaving Jai Bhagwan dead and another individual critically wounded.Though arrested shortly after, Bairagi staged a dramatic breakout on Feb 14, 1999, escaping UP Police custody at Gannaur railway station while fully restrained in handcuffs during a court transit from Ghaziabad Jail.
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