New Delhi: Former Indian Navy employee Balesh Kumar, 63, faked his death for 19 years to avoid being apprehended in connection with a murder case. In May 2004, he was accused of setting two labourers on fire in his brother’s vehicle in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
He was regarded as “dead” by both Rajasthan and Delhi Police as well as his family. Even though Balesh’s body was completely burned beyond recognition, his father Chandrabhan (who passed away in 2021) recognised it as being his son.
Balesh Kumar, a resident of west Delhi, was thought to have been killed in a burning truck in 2004, 18 days after he absconded from a murder scene in Delhi, for 19 years. According to the police, he had changed his name to “Aman Singh”, in Najafgarh and acquired fraudulent identification cards to fund his new lifestyle. In addition to resuming his life after pretending to be dead, Kumar was able to relocate his wife and their two children to Najafgarh in Outer Delhi starting in 2011.
Ravindra Singh Yadav, special commissioner of police (crime branch) said, “Once his wife realised that enough time had passed and chances of him getting caught were low, she moved in with him, along with the children. While he had assumed a new identity, the wife and children maintained their original identity.” Kumar was captured on September 28 from Najafgarh on the outskirts of Delhi. He was employed as a real estate broker. When he was caught, his wife allegedly escaped, DNA reported.