The Nagpur police, along with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) and Lucknow police, arrested three persons wanted in the Shiva Sharma murder case in Lucknow. The main suspect, Shraddha Dubey, her sister Rashmi Dubey and their driver Danish alias Tanveer Ali were traced to a flat in Somalwada after an intensive operation through the night. The police examined CCTV footage from around 250 locations to track their movements. The operation began after the Uttar Pradesh police alerted their Nagpur counterparts about the suspects’ arrival in the city. According to the police, Shraddha and Rashmi had travelled from Kanpur to Nagpur in a car (UP-78/FX-1678). Acting on the information, Nagpur police teams traced the vehicle near the Ganeshpeth Bus terminus. The driver told the police that two women wearing burqas and a man had arrived in Nagpur in his car. The trio had later left the area in an e-rickshaw. The police already had photographs of the suspects, and the driver identified Danish. CCTV footage from the bus stand confirmed their movement.

 

The police then checked recordings from around 250 cameras and tracked their route up to the Chinchbhuvan culvert. However, their whereabouts beyond that point remained unclear. By Tuesday morning, teams from the UP STF and Lucknow police had also reached Nagpur. Although Shraddha had switched off her mobile phone, she continued using WhatsApp through the internet hotspot. Information obtained from the internet service provider helped the police narrow down their search to an area near DP Road in Somalwada. The teams searched several housing societies. A security guard at Prozone Palms told them that three persons matching the suspects’ description were staying in a flat there. The police raided the flat, but the occupants refused to open the door. After informing senior officers and obtaining permission, the team broke open the door and took all three into custody. Shraddha reportedly maintained that she was innocent.

 

She claimed that Shiva Sharma had died by suicide after jumping from the fourth floor of a building. As the arrest formalities were completed late in the evening, the suspects could not be produced before a court that day. Since Beltarodi police station did not have a lock-up, they were kept overnight at Hudkeshwar police station. On Wednesday morning, the Lucknow police produced the trio before First Class Judicial Magistrate S D Kamat. The court granted a 72-hour transit remand, allowing the police to take them to Lucknow. The operation was conducted under the guidance of DCP Deepak Agrawal and ACP Vaibhav Jadhav. Inspector Shubhangi Deshmukh, Pappu Qadri, API Chetan Borkhade, Nitin Chulpar, PSI Manoj Raut, Amit Deshmukh and several other police personnel were part of the team.