Fugitive murderer lived just 4km from Sabarmati Central Jail that he escaped 13 years ago

Ahmedabad: Convicted murderer Satish Ruparelia pulled off a feat few fugitives ever manage: After jumping parole twice —remaining undetected for 13 years the second time — he built an entirely new public life under the nose of the law, just 4km from the Sabarmati Central Jail he fled. Sentenced to life for the sensational 1994 murder of businessman Arvind Shah, Ruparelia quietly reinvented himself as ‘Sanjay Thakkar’ within the city where he was prosecuted. Operating as a financier and occasional spiritual speaker, he remarried, raised two children, and officially changed his name through gazette records to seal his new identity, police said.

Ruparelia was finally detained by the crime branch in New Ranip on Sunday evening.

Crime branch officers said Ruparelia formally changed his name through a public gazette notification in 2014, nearly a year after jumping parole.

Police said Ruparelia was originally sentenced to death in the murder case before the Gujarat high court later commuted the punishment to life imprisonment. Officers added that he had earlier jumped parole in 2005, and was later arrested by Dariapur police in a fake currency notes case in 2008. He was sentenced to five years in that case, though both prison terms ran concurrently.

According to police, Ruparelia’s first wife divorced him in 2010 after his conviction in the murder case. Police said that after allegedly absconding again in 2013, he started a completely new life.

“In 2014, he married another woman and began living in New Ranip. He later had two children from the second marriage,” a senior officer said.

Police said he worked as a private money lender and loan consultant, helping people secure loans and coordinating with banks. “He had officially changed his identity through gazette records, yet no agency detected that he was a parole absconder living within city limits,” the officer added.

Ruparelia gradually became active in spiritual programmes, said police. “He developed an interest in spiritual literature and began narrating it in public gatherings. He was regularly invited to such events in and around New Ranip and had become known among locals as a spiritual speaker,” an officer said.

“He attended public programmes openly for years, yet remained undetected,” the officer added.

Police said his father had earlier been convicted in connection with allegedly hiding robbed ornaments linked to the 1994 murder case. “The family lives in Chenpur and believed he was constantly moving while absconding. Though Ruparelia would make brief visits to his parents, they claim not to know that he had built a life in Ahmedabad,” an officer said.