The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States is searching for Bhadresh Kumar Patel, an Indian national who is from Viramgam in Ahmedabad, in one of the largest manhunts ever launched. Patel has been missing since 2015, when it was claimed that he fatally stabbed his wife, Palak, inside a Dunkin Donuts in Hanover, Maryland.
Patel, who was 24 at that time, hit his 21-year-old wife in the face with a kitchen knife and stabbed her several times in the backroom of the shop where they both worked while customers were still there, according to officials quoted by sources.
The couple’s visas expired about a month before the killing and investigators believe that Palak Patel wanted to return to India, but her husband opposed it, sources reported. The FBI’s notice says that the accused “should be considered armed and extremely dangerous”.
Although he was put on the list in 2017 with the $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture he is still on run.
In April 2015, Patel, (then 24) and his wife Palak(21) were working in night shift in the Dunkin’ Donuts store. The CCTV footage of the night of the crime showed Bhadresh and Palak walking together towards the store’s kitchen before disappearing behind the racks.
The murder was discovered after a customer who couldn’t see any store employees called the police to report the incident. Palak was found dead with numerous stab wounds by the police, but Patel had already left the scene of the crime.
After the murder, Patel returned to his apartment and left in a cab with some documents.
It is believed that Patel fled the US with the help of human traffickers and could have gone to Canada or Ecuador, where he had relatives.
He was last known to have taken a taxi from a hotel in New Jersey to a train station in Newark in the state.
Tim Altomare, who was the police chief of Anne Arundel County at that time, told that: “The violence in this case was stark. It was heart-wrenching and it was a shock to our collective conscience on the police department.”
It is believed that Patel was in the US in 2017 when he was put on the FBI list and someone was knowingly helping Patel get out of the country.
FBI’s notice
Bhadreshkumar Chetanbhai Patel is sought after for allegedly killing his wife on April 12, 2015, while they were both working at a donut shop in Hanover, Maryland, by striking her repeatedly with a foreign object. On April 13, 2015, the District Court of Maryland issued a regional arrest warrant for Anne Arundel County.
First- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and dangerous weapon with intent to injure were all charges brought against Patel. On April 20, 2015, a federal arrest warrant was issued in Baltimore, Maryland’s District of Maryland’s United States District Court after Patel was accused of fleeing the country illegally to avoid being prosecuted.