New Delhi: A 50-year-old life term convict, who allegedly abducted a woman, 29 years younger to him, from Rajkot by jumping parole in 2018, is believed to be in Punjab's Ludhiana, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has told the Gujarat High Court, after the woman returned to her parents due to the "efforts of the agency" in June.
Dhaval Trivedi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for exploiting minor girls in a separate case, started running an English tuition centre in Rajkot's Chotila after getting parole from the high court.
The victim, a 19-year-old first-year graduation student, studied at his tuition centre, where he lured her and subsequently abducted her, the woman's family had alleged.
The CBI took over the case on the instructions of the high court on May 1 last year and launched a massive manhunt in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Gujarat, besides alerting Interpol, as it received inputs about the abductor moving to Nepal, officials said.
The woman, now 21 years of age, returned to her parents in the first week of June this year with a one-year-old child, after Trivedi left her in Gaindi Khata, near Haridwar in Uttarakhand, where he ran a medicine shop, they said.
After a heated argument with him, the woman revealed Trivedi's real identity to the landlord in March. Realising that he has been exposed, Trivedi left her and fled.
During preliminary interactions with the woman, she narrated her ordeal of moving from city to city for nearly two years with her captor as the CBI was on Trivedi's trail, the officials said.
They assumed Sikh identities and stayed at gurdwaras to avoid suspicion, the officials added.
The agency deployed technical surveillance, but Trivedi was a step ahead as he avoided using mobile phones and used PCOs and strangers' phones to communicate, the officials said.
The CBI, which had announced a reward of Rs five lakh for information leading to Trivedi's arrest, dug its sources, took help of the police of various states, intensified its technical surveillance and also sieved through social media to get any information about the woman and Trivedi.
An Interpol Blue Corner Notice was also issued against Trivedi to get information from abroad, in case he managed to take the woman out of the country.
Once Trivedi escaped from Gaindi Khata, the woman travelled to Ahmedabad and then, to Maharashtra in March, the officials said.
Around the time, the nationwide lockdown was announced. She took a train to Bihar just before it was announced, on which she met a sympathetic passenger, who gave her shelter. After the lockdown was lifted, she returned to her parents, the officials said.
On getting to know about the development, the CBI approached the high court to give information about it.
During the hearing on June 12, the agency told the court, "...it is on account of concerted efforts made by the CBI, the corpus (woman) has chosen to return to her family."
The CBI told the bench that all possible steps were taken to trace the accused, who is known for exploiting minor girls.
It said so far it has intimated the police commissioners of all major cities and superintendents of police of all the districts in the country, besides Interpol and immigration offices, about Trivedi.
"According to the CBI, Ludhiana police had seen him at Nanaksar, however, he left the said place before the police reached there. Police at Ludhiana is keeping a close watch on the movement of the accused, Dhaval Trivedi, and in all likelihood, the accused would be arrested," the bench of justices Sonia Gokani and N V Anjaria noted in the order on June 12.
The bench directed the CBI to continue with the investigation to trace Trivedi as there is a strong possibility of the accused indulging in more such crimes.
"The inquiry is also necessary as to how surety was taken by the jail authority of a jail inmate. Let that be inquired by the IG (Prisons) and necessary action can be taken if any erring officer is found, after following the due procedure," the bench said.
PTI
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