Lucknow: The three accused in the death of Lucknow restaurant owner Shiva Sharma, including social media influencer and model Shraddha Dubey, used coordinated and “professional” evasion tactics to avoid arrest, frequently shifting locations, concealing identities and staying 10 to 12 hours ahead of pursuing police teams, additional director general of police (Law and Order) Amitabh Yash said on Tuesday.Shraddha Dubey, her sister Rashmi Dubey and their driver Tanveer Ali alias Danish were arrested in Nagpur after an extended multi-state pursuit by Lucknow Police. Yash said the trio’s movements were planned in a manner typically associated with seasoned offenders, complicating efforts to pinpoint their whereabouts in real time.“They did not remain at any location for long,” Yash said, describing a pattern in which police teams arriving at suspected hideouts would find the accused had already moved on. Investigators, he said, repeatedly had to restart tracing efforts based on fresh inputs as the accused continued to change routes and temporary stays.Yash said Shraddha initially travelled to Nepal in what police believe was a deliberate attempt to mislead investigators into thinking she had left the country. She later re-entered Uttar Pradesh, a move Yash said appeared designed to keep investigators uncertain about whether she remained across the border or had returned to India. After coming back to Lucknow, she gave an interview to a news channel, but then left Uttar Pradesh again soon afterwards, police said.One of the key concealment methods attributed to Shraddha was travelling in a burqa to avoid visual identification, Yash said. The accused also stayed in small hotels where, according to police, it was easier to avoid scrutiny and limit identity disclosure. Yash said they reduced the use of communication devices to make digital tracking more difficult.The ADG said the accused consistently maintained a lead of roughly 10 to 12 hours over police teams. In multiple instances, when officers reached a location based on leads, the trio had departed around half a day earlier, delaying the operation and forcing continued tracking across locations.Police said the accused also changed vehicles while heading towards Nagpur, travelling by taxi but switching vehicles during the journey to break a continuous trail. Despite these measures, Lucknow Police tracked the trio to Nagpur and arrested them on Tuesday evening.
