A month-long manhunt across nine states, an examination of 2,500 CCTV cameras and questioning of over 100 people — that is how Madhya Pradesh Police tracked down and arrested a 27-year-old caretaker accused of murdering retired IAS officer Rakesh Agrawal at his Bhopal residence.

Agrawal, 70, a retired 1982-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was found dead at his home in Suraj Nagar on September 30. His throat had been slit with a sharp-edged weapon. The accused, Varun Valmiki, allegedly fled the city by train hours after the incident and remained on the run until police teams tracked him down on the Agra-Mathura road in Agra.

While being brought to Bhopal , Valmiki allegedly attempted to escape police custody near Mughalia Chhap on Tuesday morning. Police said he snatched a pistol from a policeman and attempted to attack the team.…