Convict on run for 15 yrs held in Odisha, two girls rescued

On July 11, the police managed to trace the girls on a Kolkata-bound train. “One of the girls had called a friend from someone’s phone. Using that phone number, we managed to locate the girls and then called the Odisha police, who intercepted the train at Rourkela and found the girls,” said Inspector Nasir Kulkarni.

The team that had come to drop the girls on July 13, managed to get information about a murder convict, who had been sighted in Thane before.  “The accused, Sudam Purushottam (58), had committed a murder in 1988 along with others in Odisha’s Bhadrak district. He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he came out on parole in 2003 and fled to Mumbai,” said an officer privy to the case. He added, “Purushottam was living under a false identity and used to run canteens serving tea and snacks in under-construction sites.”

According to Senior Inspector D Dhole, the Odisha police returned on July 15 with all documentation to arrest Purushottam. “We nabbed him from one of the under-construction areas in Kasarwadavli village. He was presented before the court on July 17 and the Odisha police took him back,” said Dhole.