Manabesh Mohanty Cuttack: Commissionerate Police on Tuesday arrested a life convict who was absconding for more than nine years after jumping parole from Circle Jail, Choudwar.The accused, Sajit Khan, 39, was convicted in the sensational 2008 Jagatpur murder case involving the brutal killing of Mili alias Nirmala Sahoo of Bhairpur village under Jagatpur police limits. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Fast Track Court in Cuttack in 2010.Police said Sajit was granted 14 days’ furlough from March 7 to March 20, 2017, with directions to surrender on March 21. However, he failed to return to prison and remained on the run for over nine years.A case was registered at Jagatpur police station in Dec 2025 under relevant sections of the IPC and the Prisons Act after jail authorities lodged a complaint.During the investigation, police combined human intelligence with technical surveillance to trace the fugitive. Investigators analysed the communication patterns of his relatives and, with assistance from the Cyber Cell, tracked his movements.The accused allegedly assumed the identity of “Fayaz Khan”, settled in Amritsar, married locally and earned a living as a bedsheet hawker while evading arrest.A special police team led by ACP Arun Kumar Swain reached Amritsar, and after two days of field verification, identified and apprehended the convict with assistance from the Amritsar Police Commissionerate. He was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar, who granted four days’ transit remand before he was brought back to Odisha.“To escape detection, the convict travelled to Amritsar, Punjab, where he meticulously rebuilt his life under a fabricated identity. By preparing forged identity documents, he assumed the name ‘Fayaz Khan’ and began living as an ordinary resident of Sudarshan Nagar, Amritsar,” said Arun Kumar Swain, ACP, Cuttack.He earned his livelihood as a bedsheet hawker, married locally and started a family, all while remaining a proclaimed absconder from justice. Despite changing his identity and lifestyle, he continued to maintain discreet contact with his relatives in Cuttack, added Swain.“The arrest marks the culmination of a sustained interstate operation driven by meticulous investigation, technical surveillance and coordinated field intelligence,” he added.Manabesh Mohanty
