Representative image.

PUNE: The Pune police on Wednesday arrested a murder convict from Parbhani who was on the run for the past 20 years. He was out on bail during the trial and was absconding ever since his conviction.

The accused Ranganath Ganpat Kharvade (57) was currently residing at Katraj area in Pune with his wife and two sons. He was taking contracts of cleaning swimming tanks in the city. The Bharati Vidyapeeth police team led by sub-inspector Shivdas Gaikwad took Kharvade into custody on a tip-off.

Gaikwad told TOI that in the year 1997 Kharvade was arrested in connection of a murder of his relative in Parbhani district . “After getting bail in the case, Kharavade had sold off his property in Parbhani and disappeared along with his wife and two sons,” Gaikwad said.

He said that in the year 1998 the district court in Parbhani court had sentenced Kharvade to life imprisonment. Later, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court had confirmed Kharvade’s life imprisonment. “Parbhani court had issued non-bailable warrant against him,” Gaikwad said.

Gaikwad had received a tip-off that Kharavade had been residing in Katraj area. “We did not have any information about Kharvade. We however managed to trace him in Katraj. We have handed him to the Parbhani police,” Gaikwad said.

The investigating team comprised police constables Pradip Gurav, Vinod Bhandalkar, Ganesh Sutar and Samir Bagsiraj.

