THE SURAT Rural Police, in a joint operation with the West Bengal Police, arrested a 37-year-old artisan – the key accused in the murder of a woman in West Bengal 14 years ago – from Olpad in Surat on Sunday. The police identified the arrested accused as Gafur Shaikh, who hails from Chhota Khanpur village in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. The murder case dates back to December 2012, police said.

According to the police, Shaikh had been in a relationship with the woman, Durga Rudra alias Kanak Kartik Rudra, a widow who was then 47 years old, and allegedly killed her with the help of six of his friends over her alleged “illicit relationship” with another person. She was allegedly beaten to death by Shaikh and the other accused persons, police said.

On Sunday evening, a combined police team intercepted Shaikh in Talad village. He was taken to the Olpad police station, where he disclosed his identity and admitted to his involvement in the murder, police claimed.

Subir Goswami, sub-inspector of Dhaniakhali police station in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, said, “Shaikh had approached the Calcutta High Court seeking anticipatory bail but his application was rejected on March 6. We got his contact details, including his address, from the bail plea filed through a lawyer in Hooghly. We coordinated with the Surat police, tracked and nabbed him. He is the main accused in the murder. The six other accused are out on bail.”

He added, “Shaikh married a woman from West Bengal’s Chhota Khanpur village around three years ago and has one son. He visited the village around a year ago. He has been working as an artisan at a jewellery factory in Surat for the past one-and-a-half years and earlier stayed in Rajkot for a couple of years. After the murder, Shaikh, who was around 23 at the time, fled to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, before ending up in Gujarat.”

According to the Olpad police, Shaikh entered into a relationship with Durga, who he found was allegedly involved with another man. The two had frequent arguments over this and Gafur, along with six of his friends, allegedly killed Durga. The West Bengal police arrested six of the accused in connection with the case even as Shaikh remained untraceable.

Olpad police inspector C R Jadav said, “The West Bengal Police obtained a two-day transit remand of the accused and left for Bengal on Monday.”