A man wanted for the murder of a 13-year-old boy in Delhi in 1995 has been arrested after a 31-year wait, during which the convict changed his name and traveled through instances of evading arrest. He was finally arrested by the Delhi Police in Loni, Ghaziabad.
The accused, Salim Khan, also known as Salim Wastak, posed as a social activist and YouTuber. He was also attacked for his religious views in February.
For the past 31 years, Salim Khan has been constantly evading arrest by traveling through Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, police said. He was finally arrested on Tuesday after the Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested the convict from Ghaziabad, a police statement said.
What is the case against Salim Khan?
The case concerns the kidnapping and murder of a 13-year-old businessman’s son in 1995.
On January 20, a 13-year-old cement businessman was kidnapped in northeast Delhi by 54-year-old Salim Ahmed. Khan was a martial arts teacher at Ramjas School where the deceased was a student. Khan then demanded a ransom $30,000 from the businessman a day after the kidnapping.
Suspicions about Salim Khan arose after a neighbor saw the child leaving in a rickshaw with a tall boy called Masterji at the time he was supposed to go to school.
But when Salim Khan was arrested and interrogated, he revealed that he had killed the child and dumped his body in a drain in Mustafabad. Co-accused Anil has also been arrested in the case.
Two years later, in August 1997, Salim and Anil were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
How Salim Khan traveled across Haryana and above
The development in the case came when Salim Khan appealed the lower court ruling in the Delhi High Court. As the appeal was pending before the court, Khan was released on bail in November 2000.
However, he did not surrender after his bail expired. The Delhi High Court also upheld the conviction in July 2011.
After jumping bail, the accused remained at large and remained in hiding while traveling across states, including Haryana. He worked as a meera maker in Karnal and Ambala, before settling in Ghaziabad.
In 2010, he settled in Loni, Ghaziabad, where he took on a new identity as Salem Wastak, also known as Salem Ahmed. He opened a ladies clothing and women’s essentials store in Naspindi Colony in Loni.
How did Delhi Police arrest him?
Years later, a Delhi Police team was assigned to continue monitoring and arresting parolees involved in crimes. Minto Yadav, police chief, received information that popular YouTuber, Salim Khan, was involved in a kidnapping for ransom and murder of a 31-year-old woman. It was also revealed that the YouTuber has been declared dead in the eyes of law enforcement agencies.
The police followed up the case and details of the convict including his old photograph and fingerprints were collected from court records. He was soon arrested in a raid conducted by a team of Delhi Police Crime Branch along with Ghaziabad Police.
Martial arts instructor for the “ex-Muslim” YouTuber.
Police revealed that Salim Khan was born in Shamli town of Muzaffarnagar district in UP in 1972 and moved to Delhi in search of a living.
He was working as a martial arts teacher at Ramjas School in Daryaganj, Delhi, when he committed the crime in 1995.
In 2026, Salim Khan became famous on YouTube due to his identity as an “ex-Muslim”. His religious views also led to a stabbing attack in February this year. Two people, identified as Zeeshan and Gulfam, allegedly stabbed Salim several times in the neck and stomach at his office in Loni, police said.
