Murder convict found as monk in Jaipur

A convicted murderer who jumped parole in Ahmedabad in 2013 has finally been caught. After a nationwide manhunt spanning more than a decade, the police discovered that the man, Baburam Sharma, had been posing as a pundit in Rajasthan’s Jaipur.

Ahmedabad’s Bhadra Sessions Court had sentenced Sharma to life in jail in 2011, after finding him guilty of murdering his neighbour with a sword over a parking dispute in 2008. 

Before being let out of jail on a 14-day furlough five years later, he told the authorities he would be staying at his in-laws’ home in Vadodara’s Padra area. However, he absconded once he was let out, and has been on the run ever since.

A wild goose chase ends

Today, the parole-furlough police squad found Sharma performing a Vastu puja (a Hindu ritual to bring peace and prosperity to a house or building) at a residence in Jamdoli village in neighbouring Rajasthan. He had been living in Jaipur as Mahant Shankara Narayan. 

However, over the past 11 years, Sharma has led the squad on a wild goose chase across state lines.

Initially, the cops learnt that the absconding parolee had fled Gujarat to set up shop as a barber in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Then, they were informed that he had moved to somewhere in North India where he was living under an assumed identity. 

About a week ago, the squad received information that Sharma may have been spotted in the Punjab-Haryana region, leading them to focus their investigation there.

They later received word that the escaped convict was working as a ‘Karmakandi Brahmin’ (a priest who performs rituals) in an ashram in Jaipur, leading to a further shift in the investigation.

Given that Jaipur has a population of about 50 lakh, pinpointing the location of the fake pundit was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Undeterred, the team spent four days attending aartis and pujas in several ashrams and akharas (Hindu religious gathering places) so as to acquaint themselves with the city’s religious leaders. The team hit pay dirt when they were informed of a fake ‘Karmakandi’—Mahant Shankara Narayan—who was suspected of performing rituals for a fee, despite not being a Brahmin.