THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, June 8: In a dramatic move straight out of a Hindi crime thriller, Paton police in Palamu arrested a POCSO offender, Dilip Mehta, who had been absconding since 2022 — the year an FIR was filed against him at the Paton police station.
The police had already executed a warrant to seize his immovable property, but the accused had managed to evade arrest for years.
Lalji, the officer in charge of the Paton police station, said, “We got information about the wedding of the accused’s brother-in-law. We were certain the accused would attend the ceremony.”
However, none of the officers knew what the accused currently looked like. “We had only one old photograph, which was of little help,” Lalji added.
“We went to the celebration posing as regular villagers. While there, we heard a wedding song that mentioned Dilip by name. That’s when he appeared, unaware that we were looking for him,” Lalji recounted.
“Our target was right there, but because there were many guests — men and women — we didn’t want to risk creating a scene. We waited until he moved away from the crowd, then we swooped in and arrested him. He didn’t resist. He knew his time was up.”
The accused was remanded to judicial custody on Sunday. Since the offense took place in 2022, he has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, as well as under the POCSO Act, Lalji confirmed.