Serial killer who targeted taxi drivers arrested by Delhi police after 25 years
The accused identified as 49-year-old Ajay Lamba alias Banshi was wanted in four brutal robbery-cum-murder cases lodged against him in Delhi, and Haldwani, Almora and Champawat districts of Uttarakhand
A SERIAL killer, who was on the run for around two-and-a-half decades, was arrested by the police in the national capital.
The accused, identified as 49-year-old Ajay Lamba alias Banshi, was wanted in four brutal robbery-cum-murder cases lodged against him in Delhi, and Haldwani, Almora and Champawat districts of Uttarakhand.
In all the cases, including a 2001 murder case registered at the New Ashok Nagar police station in Delhi, he was declared a proclaimed offender.
According to the police, Lamba was the alleged mastermind behind a string of heinous crimes committed between 1999 and 2001, in which he, along with associates, targeted taxi drivers, killed them, looted their vehicles and dumped the bodies in remote forested areas of Uttarakhand to evade identification.
"Born in 1976 and originally a resident of Delhi's Krishna Nagar, Ajay dropped out of school after Class 6 and became involved in crime at an early age. He was previously declared a 'Bad Character' by the Vikas Puri police under the alias 'Banshi'. In 1996, he changed his name to Ajay Lamba and shifted base to Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, where he teamed up with accomplices Dhirendra and Dilip Negi," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aditya Gautam said.
Together, they operated a violent criminal enterprise in which they used to kill drivers after hiring taxis. Then the vehicles looted were resold across the Nepal border, he added.
Lamba was arrested in Delhi in a coordinated operation, said the police.
In the 1990s, he also faced charges such as theft and arms possession.
The DCP further said that from 2008 to 2018, he lived in Nepal with his family and later moved to Dehradun.
In 2020, he became involved in narcotics smuggling, allegedly working in the ganja-supply network from Odisha to Delhi and other parts of India.
He was also arrested in 2021 in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act by the Sagarpur police and again in 2024 in connection with a jewellery-shop dacoity in Odisha's Berhampur. But, he was released on bail in both cases and never disclosed his fugitive status to anyone.
