There are carnival-like celebrations on the main road leading to Sri Krishna Janmashtaan. It’s marriage season and dance and music welcome you on blocked roads.
But just half-a-kilometre away, there is silence. No lights to guide you, shops shut down and no one to talk to. This is Chanderpur colony — home to Delhi’s latest “rapist”, Shiv Kumar Yadav.
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Yadav’s family — his wife and two children — have been living here for two years. However, the family has been absconding since Sunday morning.
“The family fled, maybe early morning today. We don’t have the details. However, they may have fled to their native district,” Mathura’s assistant superintendent of police, Ajay Pal Sharma, said.
There is hostility from the neighbours when they are asked for details about the accused and his whereabouts. The owner of the house, a former army official, refused to speak to Newsline. But resident in the opposite lane said that the accused was often seen here. “He used to come during weekends. His sister-in-law also stays in the same area. But we had little interaction,” neighbour Lalit Kumar said.
Yadav belongs to Mainpuri district, some 100 kilometres from Mathura. According to an eyewitness, the accused parked his car near his house here and then absconded. Sources told Newsline that it was an informer from the same area who “tracked” him down after he went missing.
The accused was then found hiding near a crowded place at a marriage hall. “We got information through an informer that he was hiding just a kilometre away from Meera Madan Paradise,” the police officer said.
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He added that the accused or his family were not involved in any other criminal activities.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
