Former army captain Sandeep Tomar, who evaded arrest for nearly four years after being convicted of murdering his wife, has been arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Pandhurna district. His arrest was made on Saturday through a joint operation involving Fazilka police and NATGRID (National Intelligence Grid).
Tomar was found guilty of strangling his wife Shweta Singh in 2013 in Abohar Cantonment, Punjab, just five months after their wedding. That’s when he claimed she took her own life. However, forensic evidence later confirmed that she had been strangled. A local court sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2014, after which he was discharged from the army, The Times of India (TOI) reported.
After serving five years in Ferozepur jail, he was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2019, pending hearing of his appeal. However, when the High Court upheld his life sentence, he did not give up and went into hiding.
How did the former army captain escape the police?
A TOI report said he was living in different cities under a false identity. Investigators said he worked as a real estate agent in Zirakpur before moving to Odisha and later Bengaluru. He eventually settled in Pandhurna, a part of the erstwhile Chhindwara district, where he was employed as a manager in a juice factory. He also remarried during this period.
Officials said his arrest was the result of a coordinated effort between local police and national intelligence agencies. Despite using a fake identity in his everyday life, two key digital leads led investigators to him. Tomar used his original PAN card to open a salary bank account and later used the same account to book an LPG cylinder refill.
How an LPG bottle helped the police catch him
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was tracking his financial activity linked to his real identity. The use of his PAN card and salary deposits into an account from a Madhya Pradesh-based firm led to his arrest.
His location was traced after the same account was used to pay for LPG refills. Police then contacted the gas agency to obtain his delivery address. Once his location in Pandhurna was confirmed and verified, the Fazilka police coordinated his capture with local authorities. He was later brought back to Punjab on remand and produced before an Abohar court where he was remanded on March 28.
