A Kerala police team, on Thursday, visited the Puzhal prison complex, in search of Kerala’s most-wanted criminal, ‘Aadu’ Anthony .
The police took the action on a suspicion that the 50-year-old, wanted for the murder of a head constable, could be taking refuge behind bars, under a different identity.
Anthony, dubbed a ‘tech thief,’ is suspected to be involved in over 200 cases of burglary, primarily of electronic goods, in Kerala and close to 10 similar thefts in Tamil Nadu.Anthony went into hiding after the night of June 25, 2012, when he stabbed head constable Maniyan Pillai to death in Paripally police limits in Kollam after the latter tried to apprehend Anthony for a burglary attempt.
A Kollam police team carried out an extensive manhunt in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other southern states and announced a reward of Rs. 1 lakh for any clues leading to Anthony’s arrest.
But he had remained untraceable for almost a year now.
In a cheating case in Shirdi, Maharastra, in December 2012, Anthony gave the police the slip but his accomplice was arrested.
The police then received information that he was spotted in a luxury hotel in Bangalore, but investigators could not track him down.
Kollam city police commissioner Debesh Kumar Behera said his team had started the search at Puzhal prison based on specific information that Anthony could be in prison under a false identity after being arrested for other offences.
“We have covered prisons in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and some in Tamil Nadu. We suspect he may be in a prison in the State as his area of operation, apart from Kerala, was Tamil Nadu,” Mr. Behera said.
The Kollam police team, carrying three different photos and identification details of Anthony, examined photographs and crime records of remanded prisoners in Puzhal. The team will be staying in the city for the next few days and are expected to continue the search in other prisons in the State.
The Kollam police launched a facebook page, ‘Justice for Maniyan Pillai’, earlier this year in order to mobilise clues to Anthony’s whereabouts.
