‘We’re closing in on him’: Dehradun police claim credible inputs from Nepal officials on Anjel Chakma’s murder key accused | Dehradun News

DEHRADUN: Amid the intensified probe to arrest the lone absconding accused, Yagya Awasthi, allegedly involved in 24-year-old Tripura student Anjel Chakma’s murder, police in Dehradun on Friday claimed to have received “credible inputs from their counterparts in Nepal on his whereabouts”.A senior police officer in Dehradun, privy to the investigation, told TOI that the city police has submitted a letter via the ministry of external affairs to Nepal govt to seek help in the case, under the applicable provisions.“Their govt roped in the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), which is the country’s nodal agency to cooperate in cross-border criminal cases. Since then, we received four credible inputs from them on his whereabouts, as per which he is suspected to be hiding at a place near the border within Indian territory,” he said.The officer added that “it seems Awasthi failed to cross over into Nepal to hide in his native place in Kanchanpur district. Acting on the letter sent by us, the CIB verified it by conducting raids at Awasthi’s place in Kanchanpur, but he was not found there.”Confirming the development, SSP Dehradun Ajai Singh said the police are close to nabbing him. “Our teams are putting in all their efforts. He was the one who picked a knife from a food cart and stabbed Anjel in his back, leading to critical injuries in his spinal cord,” added Singh.Meanwhile, Kanchanpur SP Khadak Bahadur Khatri told TOI over the phone on Friday that the district police “did not receive any formal communication from Dehradun police in regard to the case”. “The action, so far, seems to be taken by higher authorities. The district police is ready to offer full cooperation to Dehradun police in this case,” said Khatri.Awasthi, who police claimed was of Nepalese origin and a native of Kanchanpur district of Nepal, adjacent to Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district, was the one who allegedly stabbed Anjel. He is the only one among the six accused yet to be arrested. Police earlier apprehended five, including two juveniles, on Dec 14, after registering a case on Dec 12 last year.