How did it all unfold? We have uncovered the story, tracing police records and news reports.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States' principal federal law enforcement agency, domestic intelligence and security service, is on the hunt for an Indian on their fugitive list for the past four years - Bhadresh Kumar Patel of Gujarat. In the latest 2019 list of top ten most wanted fugitives released by the FBI, Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel figures on number five.
So why is 24-year-old Bhadresh, who hails from Viramgam in Ahmedabad, being pursued by the United States' domestic intelligence service in what is being supposed now as one of the biggest ever manhunts in its history? The description of his "cold-blooded" criminal act is blood-curdling. This man is wanted for the horrific murder of his wife in a doughnut shop in Hanover, Maryland in the United States in 2015. He first figured in the FBI's most-wanted list in 2017 after intelligence and the security agencies failed to track him down after he was last seen taking a shuttle to Pennsylvania Station in Newark, New Jersey. According to the FBI officials, Patel has connections to Canada, India, New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia, and Illinois.
How did it all unfold? We have uncovered the story, tracing police records and news reports. As it happened to be, both Bhadresh and 21-year-old wife, Palak, worked in a Dunkin' Donuts quick service restaurant in Hanover, Maryland. On the fated night of April 12, 2015, both of them were working late-night shifts. According to CCTV footage recovered by the police from the restaurant, Bhadresh was seen disappearing behind the racks in the back of the store, along with his wife. Moments later, he came back out alone, turned the kitchen oven off, and walked out of the store calmly as if nothing had happened.
Later in the same night, Palak's body was found from the spot, carrying multiple indiscriminate stab wounds, clear marks of an act of horrific brutality. Anne Arundel County police detective Kally Harding, who is assisting the FBI in the hunt for Patel, said, "Patel's wife Palak was young and the crime scene was very brutal. She was killed in a horrible way, that's the kind of person (killer) we are dealing with."
According to the police, after committing his wife's murder, Bhadresh Patel walked calmly across the road to his nearby apartment, from where he picked up a few of his personal belongings. Afterwards, he hired a cab and headed to a hotel near the Pennsylvania Station airport in Newark. The CCTV footage from the hotel, recovered later, shows Bhadresh checking into the hotel with a transaction made in cash with no visible angst on his face and expressions. He later left the hotel the next morning after having slept through the night.
All through the while, the visible apathy and indifference displayed on Bhadresh, even after a brutal murder, is what that has sent shockwaves throughout Maryland and even the FBI was left stunned by the apparent calmness of this Indian national in the face of the itinerant alarm. Even the taxi driver who transported Patel to the hotel near the Newark airport said that Patel was looking very 'normal' during the ride. All throughout, his body language and facial impression seem to be very normal, as if nothing had happened. This is what ticked the FBI into categorising Patel as one of the most dangerous criminals alive and launched one of the largest ever manhunts in the history of the security agency after according him a place in the latest FBI list of most wanted fugitives.
Different photographs of Bhadresh Patel have been made into wanted posters in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and even in French and circulated in different parts of the world where Patel could be hiding. According to reports, the FBI's agents in New Delhi are also coordinating with the state police and other law enforcement agencies to trace the fugitive. They are currently keeping a tab on Patel's known friends and relatives.
Though the FBI list of Top 10 Most Wanted fugitives is constantly updated, Bhadresh Patel has been featuring on it for a while. The FBI has announced a reward of up to $100,000 for releasing any whereabouts of Patel.
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 "Indian in FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted fugitives list? Here's why US launched largest manhunt for Gujarat's Bhadresh Patel")
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