Now Reading: Delhi police arrest 65-year-old after 42 years for 1984 murder
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Delhi police arrest 65-year-old after 42 years for 1984 murder
Delhi Police's Crime Branch has arrested Natthu alias Natthulal, 65, from Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, for the 1984 murder of Ashok Kumar. He had been absconding for over 42 years. The arrest was…
Delhi Police's Crime Branch has arrested Natthu alias Natthulal, 65, from Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, for the 1984 murder of Ashok Kumar. He had been absconding for over 42 years. The arrest was made on August 18 while he was travelling to Farrukhabad, based on months of field verification by the police team.
The murder occurred on May 23, 1984, when Kumar's body with multiple knife injuries was found in a park in Vikaspuri. Police said the killing followed a dispute after Kumar made sexual advances towards the wife of Bhabhuti Prashad, a co-accused. Prashad was arrested earlier and the knife recovered, but Natthu remained untraced.
During his years on the run, Natthu worked in wholesale vegetable markets across Uttar Pradesh, kept a low profile, and never married. He was also named in an FIR in Farrukhabad in 2005. Further investigation is underway.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Both India Today and Times of India reported the arrest as a straightforward police success story, leading with the 42-year gap and the methodical work of the Crime Branch. Neither source included any critical framing, such as questioning the delay or the adequacy of the original investigation. The coverage is uniform straight reporting, focused on the factual sequence and the police narrative. The measured takeaway is that while the case is old and the accused was living a quiet life, the arrest demonstrates that police cold-case units can still yield results decades later, but raises no systemic scrutiny of how the man evaded capture for so long.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): indiatoday.in (neutral report), timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
