NEW DELHI, Aug 16: — A man who had been absconding for more than 26 years in connection with a 1999 murder case in Saudi Arabia was arrested earlier this week at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Mohammad Dilshad of Bijnor district in Uttar Pradesh, was taken into custody on August 11 after returning from Madinah via Jeddah. Officials said he had been living under a false identity and using a forged passport to travel across Gulf nations for over two decades.
According to investigators, Dilshad, who worked in Riyadh as a heavy motor mechanic and later as a security guard, allegedly murdered a co-worker in 1999. He escaped Saudi authorities soon after the incident and fled to India, where he managed to assume a new identity.
“He gave a slip to Saudi authorities and managed to procure a new passport through deceitful means, which he then used for international travel,” a CBI spokesperson said. The agency added that Dilshad continued visiting countries such as Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia while successfully evading detection for years.
The CBI took over the probe in April 2022 following a formal request from Saudi authorities to trace and prosecute the fugitive in India. Officials said the agency identified Dilshad’s native village in Uttar Pradesh and issued a look-out circular (LOC), but the notice proved ineffective because it was tied to his old travel documents.
“During the course of investigation, it was found out that Dilshad used to travel to Qatar, Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia based on the identity he acquired by deceitful means,” the CBI spokesperson noted.
Relying on a combination of technical intelligence and human sources, investigators eventually tracked down his forged passport, which led to the issue of a fresh LOC.
Unaware of the development, Dilshad landed in Delhi on August 11. “Upon his arrival, the immigration department alerted the CBI, and the accused was taken into custody,” an official said.
The agency has not disclosed further details of his prosecution, but officials confirmed he remains under investigation and will face trial in India for the 1999 murder as requested by Saudi Arabia.
