After 5 yrs, key accused inBehror stn attack arrested

Jaipur: In a major breakthrough on Wednesday, the anti-gangster task force (AGTF) of the state police arrested Rajvir Gurjar, alias Lara, a key accused in the sensational 2019 Behror police station attack. The arrest comes after an extensive five-year manhunt across various states.

Rajvir, 32, a resident of Khairorli village in Mahendragarh who carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh, was arrested from Rewari in Haryana. He was one of the primary culprits in the brazen daylight attack on Behror police station, when over 30 armed men wielding automatic weapons, including AK-47s, stormed the lockup to free notorious gangster Vikram Gurjar, alias Papla.

The attack was executed on the night between Sept 5 and 6, 2019, just hours after Papla's arrest with nearly Rs 32 lakh in cash.

The attackers, including Rajvir, successfully freed Papla in what became one of the most daring jailbreaks in the state's recent history.

Director general (crime & AGTF) Dinesh M N said that ‘Operation Lara' — named after Rajvir's cricket-inspired childhood nickname — involved extensive surveillance and intelligence gathering.

To avoid detection, Rajvir took to an isolated life, frequently changing disguises and traveling across 20 different states, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. He avoided using mobile phones and social media, cutting off contact with family and friends to evade law enforcement.

"Rajvir employed sophisticated evasion tactics, avoiding mobile phones and social media while constantly moving between states," the DG said. During his years as a fugitive, Rajvir lived in wrestling arenas across states, frequently changing disguises and travelling under false identities.

Police recovered an AK-56 rifle, believed to have been used in the Behror attack, along with ammunition during the arrest. The accused, who was already facing murder charges in Haryana when he joined Papla's gang, has been remanded to five-day police custody by the ACJM court in Behror.

This marks the 32nd arrest in the case, following the capture of the main accused Papla and his woman companion Zia from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, in Jan 2021. The AGTF will now focus on uncovering the network that helped Rajvir evade arrest for nearly six years.