MEERUT: A criminal from Meerut , who wanted in at least nine cases and eluding police for the past few months, was arrested after he posted photos of his Shimla retreat on Facebook .

Photographs of Hazi Syed — an accused in large-scale violence in Meerut in March and again in June — enjoying a yak ride in front of a waterfall and at a “snow point”, purportedly at Kufri, near the hill station , were uploaded on Facebook a few days ago.

When the cops came to know of it, they swung into action and a team was instantly dispatched to Shimla. Syed’s contacts in Meerut, however, also came to know of the planned police action and alerted him, after which he started changing his locations. However, with the help of mobile surveillance and assistance from local police, Meerut cops managed to nab him.

According to police, Syed was wanted for violence that broke out in Meerut’s Macheraan area following a fire which gutted more than 200 houses in March. “He was missing ever since his name cropped up in the violence in Macheraan area on March 6 this year. He is also a co-accused in violence during mob-lynching protests in July,” SP (city) Akhilesh Narayan Singh said.

After a massive fire at a slum in Meerut’s Bhusamandi area in March, a mob of around 200 residents of the locality had resorted to violence in which four roadways buses and a car were vandalised and several commuters were injured. At least 30 people were identified and arrested and Syed had emerged as one of the main conspirators of the violence.

His name cropped up again in cases registered for mob violence in June. Syed again went missing after that.

