Convict who beheaded Gujarat trader, jumped parole, held after 12 years on run

IN oct 1994, Satish Himmatlal Rupa Relia and Rajan Panchal lured textile dealer Arvind shah of iran from Ahmedabad’s Kalupur to Neelam Hotel in the metropolis’s Shahibaug country on the pretext of a discounted silk deal, asking him to bring cash. The two took Shah to a room and tried to rob him of gold rings, a chain, and cash at knifepoint before stabbing him around 30 to 35 times and killing him when he resisted and tried to snatch their knife.Relia and Panchal severed Shah’s head with a sharp weapon to prevent identification, put it in a bag, and disposed of it in Gandhinagar’s Adalaj area, leaving the headless body in the hotel room. Shah’s son would identify the body through clothes, ornaments, and a surgical scar.In April 2000, a sessions court convicted Relia of murder, robbery, and criminal conspiracy and sentenced him to death. The Gujarat high court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment in 2001.Relia, who was also sentenced to five years in a counterfeit currency case, was declared a parole jumper in 2014 and remained absconding until May 2026.Police said Relia also absconded between 2004 and 2008, evading arrest by staying in guest houses under fake names across Ahmedabad and Surat. After jumping parole in 2014, he changed his identity, used aliases, and distanced himself from past contacts while living a regular life with his second wife and her two children, unaware of his criminal past, in Ahmedabad to evade arrest.Police on Monday said he changed his name to Sanjay Thakkar through a gazette notification in 2017, a process that requires public notice in two local newspapers, helping blow his cover. They said the breakthrough came after technical analysis of records, including the gazette name change. A field verification helped link his old identity with the new one.Deputy police commissioner Ajit Rajiyan said technical analysis and field work helped them trace and apprehend Relia.Police teams traced his residence, conducted surveillance to confirm his identity and movements, apprehended him, and brought him before a court, which remanded him in judicial custody. “He settled in New Ranip [Ahmedabad], where he lived with a second wife and her two children, who were unaware of his criminal past,” said the officer.Relia maintained a distance from his 85-year-old father and sisters, even though they lived in Ahmedabad. He opened an office in Ahmedabad’s Prahladnagar and started a business, maintaining a low profile.