India, Nov. 23 -- Nearly 24 years after he allegedly hacked his nine-month pregnant sister-in-law to death, a 49-year-old man who had all but disappeared off the police radar has been arrested from Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune, where he had been living under a new name and a new life.

Raigad Police on Thursday arrested the accused, Santosh Ganpat Rane, who had been working as a caterer in Sangvi under the alias 'Santosh Ganpat Patil'. Rane was wanted in a 2001 murder case registered at Neral police station under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

Superintendent of police Aachal Dalal said the breakthrough followed months of revived technical surveillance and "meticulous groundwork".

"He had vanished without a trace for more than two dec...