Thirty years seem too long a period for even the long arm of the law to catch up with an absconding accused.
That’s probably what Mohanan, 62, originally from Kannur but now settled in Vilangad in Kozhikode district, also thought. But only till the time a team from Kuttampuzha police station came knocking at his doorstep.
Mohanan along with four friends were accused of encroaching into the forest and growing ganja at Kallelimedu near Kuttampuzha way back in 1991. While the other four accused were promptly arrested, Mohanan had gone absconding and successfully managed to remain in hiding for three decades.
The hunt for him was reignited in the wake of District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik’s order to all 34 police stations within the rural limits to execute long-pending (LP) warrants ahead of the forthcoming Assembly election.
“We made a few inquiries with the old-timers at Kallelimedu about the absconding accused and that elicited some information, albeit vague, including a house name with a throwaway tip-off that he might be somewhere in Kannur,” said K.M. Mahesh Kumar, Station House Officer, Kuttampuzha police.
The probe centred around the house name led the police to Sreekandapuram police station limits and the hunch proved quite decisive. While the accused himself was not there, the police were able to trace his siblings and from them his current whereabouts at Vilangad where he was settled. The police team then promptly tracked him down and jogged his memory a bit to help him realise why they had come to get him.
The police admit that along with efficient policing, luck played as much a part in tracking down the long absconding accused since often they are not even sure whether the one they are looking for is still alive or not. “We dusted off the case since there were four warrants against him between the period 1991 and 2012. This was one of the 22 long-pending cases within our limits and the number is now down to eight,” said Mr. Kumar.
The accused was produced before a court dealing in cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and was remanded.
