Pune: Ankush Manik Gaikwad, allegedly part of the gang that has done Dako in a house in Daund Taluka in December 1980, managed to avoid the police for the past 41 years.
But luck finally ran out on Wednesday when a team from Pune Rural National Police told him in his home village Khadki in Karmala Taluka from the Solapur district, arrest him unconscious.
Dakoity incidents are the only brush on the law and the passage of time has eroded his memory of this case, police official said.
“Gaikwad looked shocked when our team focused on him and mentioned the 1980 dakoity,” said Branch Inspector Crime Pune Rural Polda Ashok Shelke to Ti.
“His first words were that even he had forgotten about the incident,” Shelke said.
“The fact that his name was not looking for a criminal case in Pune and Solapur District before or after the 1980 Dakoity might make the task of tracing him more difficult for the police,” the officer added.
Gaikwad was an 18-year-old young man when the police suspected him to be part of the nine-member gang that did Dako in a house in Yavat under Davund Taluka, on Pune-Solapur Highway, about 45 km from here.
Pune rural police then managed to capture six colleagues, but Gaikwad and the other two managed to avoid the police for years.
“Gaikwad (now 59) claimed his involvement in Dakoitas but stated that he had not been involved in other crimes since,” Shelar said.
LCB officials are now busy searching for old files and documents to determine the role of Gaikwad in Dako and ensure what happened after six previously arrested men was charged in this case.
Active search for two other helpers who are still runaway, said LCB officials.
Pune Supervisors Pune Police Abhinav Deshmukh told Toi, “Many criminals change their identity and appearance and location.
However, in this case, the defendant did not do such a thing.
He did not commit a crime after the 1980 incident and, therefore, might have gone from radar Police.
Often investigative officers change due to new transfers and posts, and those who replace them are sometimes not interested in old cases.
“” We have now prepared a list of 800 criminals to whom the court issued a command or proclamation command and they have avoided the arrest So far, “Dishmukh said.
The name Gaikwad stands out in this list of 800, and rural police focused auxiliary again to arrest him as part of a special trip a month.
“His house is strategically located at the end of Khadki Village and every time he will get a wind of the police movement, he will enter the farm or forest area nearby,” Shelke Inspector said.
Long arms finally followed him.
“This time, we mobilized our people with ordinary clothes to survey the village and look for information about their movements.
Our team learned from a local villagers who Gaikwad went to the nearest pasture where we went and picked him up.”