A former Indian Army captain, Sandeep Tomar, who had been evading arrest for four years after his conviction in his wife’s murder case, was finally apprehended in Madhya Pradesh following a breakthrough linked to an LPG cylinder booking. The arrest brought an end to a prolonged manhunt that began after he failed to surrender despite his life sentence being upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Tomar was arrested from Pandhurna district and later produced before a court, which remanded him to judicial custody. According to police, he had been constantly changing his identity and location to avoid capture since 2022, when the high court confirmed his conviction.
The case dates back to 2013, when Tomar was posted in Abohar. He was accused of killing his wife, Shveta Singh, and initially attempted to present the incident as a suicide. However, a detailed investigation later uncovered evidence indicating that the crime had been premeditated. A trial court convicted him in 2014 and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Tomar was granted bail in 2019, but after the high court upheld his sentence in 2022, he failed to surrender and went into hiding. His continued evasion prompted his father-in-law to approach the court in 2024, seeking action against him. The court subsequently directed the Punjab police to explain the steps being taken to secure his arrest.
Following this directive, a special investigation team was formed by the Fazilka police to track him down. The breakthrough came when investigators traced a bank account linked to his PAN card, which he had used to book an LPG cylinder. This transaction provided a crucial lead.
Further examination of his financial records revealed that he had been regularly booking LPG refills through an agency in Pandhurna. Police coordinated with the gas agency to obtain the delivery address, which ultimately led them to his location.
Acting on this information, local police in Madhya Pradesh quickly moved in and arrested him. He was then brought back to Fazilka, where he was produced in court and sent to judicial custody, marking the end of a long effort by law enforcement to bring him back under the legal process.
