KANPUR, Oct. 6 -- Nearly 40 years after he was convicted in a robbery and attempt-to-murder case and disappeared after getting bail, Ram Prakash was finally arrested from a forested area of Bareilly, where he had been living as 'Pagaldas', a self-styled holy man. He had set up an ashram and built a following across nearby villages, but a social media reel showing him with his followers eventually helped police trace him.

Prakash, now around 70, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a sessions court in 1986. He later got bail from the Allahabad high court but never returned to face the proceedings. Police said the address and details of the sureties he had furnished at the time were also fake.

The case dates back to 1984, when Ashok Sai...