A 41-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh was arrested by the Delhi Police on Tuesday, suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a Delhi cereal dealer 20 years ago on Karwa Chauth. The suspect, originally identified as Sipahi Lal, had changed his identity and was running a chhole-bhature cart in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, when he was apprehended.

Sipahi Lal was captured after a complex stakeout, during which a police officer posed as a mango vendor. He is accused of torturing and stabbing a trader in Delhi on his boss’s orders.

“The incident dates back to October 31, 2004, on Karwa Chauth. The main accused, along with four associates, abducted cereal trader Ramesh Gupta for ransom. However, they failed to make the ransom call and instead killed him, spraying paint on his face multiple times and stabbing him,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rakesh Paweriya. He described the murder as gruesome, with Gupta being stabbed repeatedly until he died.

Ramesh Chand Gupta, a resident of Shakarpur, left his house in his car on Karwa Chauth, 2004, but did not return. “His family members made several calls to his mobile phone, but there was no response,” the DCP said. His brother, Jagdish Kumar, filed an abduction complaint with Shalimar Bagh Police Station, naming Mukesh Vats, a local fruit and vegetable seller, as a suspect in Gupta’s disappearance.

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“A team recovered Gupta’s car on November 2, 2004, in Bahadurgarh, but he was still missing. Another team arrested Mukesh Vats, who confessed to his involvement in the crime,” the DCP added. Vats revealed that he and his colleagues, Sipahi Lal, Shareef Khan, Kamlesh, and Rajesh, had abducted Ramesh Gupta for ransom. Vats, a vegetable seller in Azadpur Mandi, lured Gupta to a room in Karala Village on Karwa Chauth.

Mukesh, Shareef Khan, and Kamlesh were detained in Karala village, and the victim’s body was recovered based on their information. However, Sipahi Lal and Rajesh remained at large, eventually being declared proclaimed offenders by a city court. It took 20 years until Sipahi Lal was finally apprehended. Following an investigation, a charge sheet was filed against Mukesh Vats, Shareef Khan, and Kamlesh, resulting in their life imprisonment sentences.