MUMBAI: Powai police on Sunday arrested a serial murder accused based purely on human intelligence, after realizing over three months ago that the man had stopped using mobile phones and other electronic devices over a decade ago to avoid detection.

The accused,

(38), fled Mumbai on October 27 after killing a colleague, Ankit Singh (22), at one of the residential buildings in Powai, where both worked as security guards. This was his third alleged murder, the previous two being in UP in 2000 and 2008.

“Pandey was tracked to Kamala Market, Delhi, on Saturday, based on a tipoff. He killed Singh over a petty matter. He is shrewd,” said DCP (Zone X) Ankit Goyal.

Police said Pandey and Singh lived at the workplace. After losing an online

to Singh, which the duo was playing on their cellphones, Pandey used a kitchen knife to slit Singh’s throat. Singh was found in a pool of blood at the building’s parking lot.

“After killing Singh, Pandey fled to Pune and then to Satara, Rajkot, Orissa and Bengaluru. Finally he reached Delhi this month. At each stop, he earned a living working as a security guard,” said ACP (Sakinaka division) Milind Khetle. “Because of his crime record in UP, the government there had declared Rs 10,000 as prize for information on his whereabouts.”

The team that nabbed him included senior inspector Sudhakar Kamble, inspector Santosh Sawant and sub-inspectors Vinod Lad and Pravin Mahamuni.