Rape accused faking death for a decade held in Telangana after wife tips off cops

HYDERABAD: In a twist in rape case from 2016, the accused, who was believed to have died a decade ago, was found to be alive and caught on by police in Karimnagar on Monday. The police were tipped off by his wife who alleged threat to her life from her husband.

The accused, Mohammed Abdul Wajid alias Dhoom Khalid, was arrested in 2016 for allegedly raping an engineering student. But before he was arrested locals had attacked him and crushed his legs with stones, leading to amputation.

After being discharged from hospital, he was remanded in judicial custody. He later secured bail and disappeared, using his acquaintances to spread the news of his death.

The truth surfaced recently when his wife, living in Medipally in Hyderabad, approached police claiming that Khalid was planning to kill her as he suspected her of having an affair. Acting on her information, police tracked him down and arrested him in Karimnagar on Monday.

"During the investigation, we came to know that while on run he had stayed in Nanded, Chandrapur and Nagpur in Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, he set up a gang and was involved in extortion. Khalid pretended to be a beggar during his stay in Maharashtra," Karimnagar rural inspector A Niranjan Reddy told TOI.

For the past six months, Khalid had been searching for his wife, police said.

Khalid has a criminal history dating back to 2009 and was previously convicted in a case. He remains an accused in six other cases, with three non-bailable warrants pending against him in Karimnagar.

The 2016 rape case is also pending as police maintained that they had only heard rumours of his death and the court insisting on a death certificate.

He has been sent to judicial remand, police said.