Navi Mumbai: After 33 years, the Panvel city police have arrested a husband who had fled after setting his wife on fire by pouring kerosene over her during a domestic dispute in the year 1991.

The accused husband, Babu Gudgiraram Kale (70), had committed the crime in 1991 in Panvel. He had set his wife on fire and then fled. The accused had been on the run for 33 years, evading the police. Finally, the police apprehended him from Parbhani and arrested him. The court has remanded him in police custody until January 3.

Kale was living in Panvel with his wife in 1991. During a minor argument, the accused, Kale, poured kerosene on his wife and set her on fire. His wife, severely burned, was admitted to Sion Hospital for treatment. Based on her statement, the Panvel city police registered a case against Kale for attempting to murder her.

However, his wife died during treatment, and Kale went into hiding. Subsequently, the police filed a murder case against him under Section 302 and began searching for him. In the year 1992, the chargesheet was filed by the police Kale under the Criminal Procedure Code Section 299.

Since then, the accused had been evading the police. A Judicial Magistrate of the First-Class (JMFC) court issued a non bailable arrest warrant against Kale and hence Panvel City police then formed a task force to trace the accused.

“We had his Mulund address and after we reached there, we found that the chawl where he stayed was gone and buildings had come up. We then found his hometown’s address at Setu in Parbhani. From there we got his mobile number and using the same, we traced his location and nabbed from Mumbai. He sold flowers below the bridge for a living,” senior police inspector Nitin Thakeray from PAnvel City police station said.

According to police, in the year 1991, after he learnt that the wife died, he fled out of Mumbai and later also married his wife’s sister. Since last 10 years, he is in Mumbai. He is currently in judicial custody till January 3.