New Delhi, April 26 -- A man sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of a 13-year-old boy was arrested on Friday by the Delhi Police crime branch - 26 years after he jumped bail and built a new life as a prominent social media personality with a security detail provided by the Uttar Pradesh Police. The man, Salim Khan, 54, had been living openly in Loni, Ghaziabad, under the name "Salim Wastik," running a YouTube channel with over 63,000 subscribers on which he described himself as "a former Muslim" and shared critical commentary on Islamic ideology. He also had around 31,000 followers on Instagram, though the account now appears to be inactive. Khan had assumed a new identity as Salim Ahmed and built public recognition as a social activist. He was arrested from his Loni residence in the presence of his PSOs and sent to Tihar jail, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav. His unravelling began when a cold case review led investigators to his ancestral village in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, where his own family insisted he was dead but one elderly villager knew better. Khan had been a martial arts instructor at a prominent school in Daryaganj when, on January 20, 1995, a 13-year-old student - the son of a cement businessman - was kidnapped after leaving his northeast Delhi home for the school's second shift. When the boy did not return, his family alerted the local police. The following day, the businessman received a call at his shop in Kartar Singh Market, Karawal Nagar, from a caller who said the boy was in their custody and demanded Rs.30,000 in ransom, to be placed in the luggage compartment of a Baghpat-bound bus at a bus stand near Loni flyover. The caller threatened to kill the boy if the police were informed. A case of kidnapping for ransom, murder and common intention was registered at Gokulpuri police station on January 21, 1995. Suspicion fell on Khan after a neighbour told investigators he had seen the child leaving in a rickshaw with a tall boy known as "Masterji" around the time he was due at school. Khan was picked up from his house in Mustafabad and he confessed to kidnapping the boy, strangling him at his home with the help of a co-accused, Anil, wrapping the body in a bedsheet, and disposing of it in a nearby drain. He led the police to the drain, from where the body was recovered the same day, said inspector Robin Tyagi, who led the crime branch team that made Friday's arrest. Anil surrendered before the court on February 4, 1995. On August 5, 1997, a Delhi court sentenced both men to rigorous life imprisonment. Anil was subsequently discharged by the Delhi High Court in July, 2011 with the court finding the evidence against him inadequate. Khan was granted interim bail for four weeks by the Delhi HC on November 24, 2000, on the grounds of his wife's ailing health. He never returned. The high court upheld his life conviction on July 19, 2011. While on the run, Khan moved across Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for over 10 years, living in Karnal and Ambala and working as an almirah maker, before settling permanently in Loni around 2010, where he assumed his new identity, opened a ladies' garments shop, and launched his YouTube channel, officers said. He virtually had himself declared dead, Yadav added, explaining that his wife and family in Shamli convinced other villagers he was dead. Khan's public profile as "Salim Wastik" had made him a target. On February 27 this year, he was stabbed at his office premises, allegedly by two men, Zeeshan and Gulfam, who were subsequently killed by the UP Police in separate encounters. Khan was discharged from a Delhi hospital on March 25 and given a security detail of four PSOs by the UP Police. Khan told interrogators that his first YouTube and Facebook accounts, which had millions of followers, were ordered deleted by the Jammu and Kashmir police over his visit to Pahalgam following the terror attack last year, officials said, adding that the claim was yet to be verified. The breakthrough on his identity came about a month ago, when the crime branch's anti-robbery snatching cell began re-examining cold cases and came across the file on Khan's absconding. The team found his school identity card, a fingerprint sample, and an old photograph showing him with a beard and moustache. Investigators traced his origins to Mohalla Nanupura in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, and camped there for a week, speaking to locals who - including Khan's own family members - said he had died years ago. "But one old man secretly informed us that the Salim Khan we were looking for was the famous YouTuber Salim Wastik living in Loni," Tyagi said. The man told investigators Khan had recently visited the village to sell a property. The information was verified through field intelligence and technical investigation before the team raided his Loni residence on Friday. Khan initially claimed to be innocent but acknowledged his identity when confronted with the evidence," Tyagi added....