Rape accused teacher who jumped bail 24 years ago in Kerala traced to Chennai, arrested | India News

Thiruvananthapuram city police said Muthukumar was arrested in 2001 on charges of raping a 14-year-old schoolgirl. He worked as a teacher.

According to the police, he took the Dalit girl to his home and sexually assaulted her. He was then arrested and placed in pretrial detention for three months.

In 2001, he waived bail and has been on the run ever since.

“This was one of the long-pending cases. However, we were determined to trace him. We have intensified the search over the past year. He may have changed his religion to remain elusive. He had neither a mobile phone nor a bank account,” a police officer said.

After being implicated in the rape case, Muthukumar was asked to vacate his rented accommodation, where he lived with his mother. After jumping bail, Muthukumar moved to the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border at Nagercoil, where he lived for some time. He later moved to Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu.

They later tracked down his mother and brother in Tenkasi, the inspector said.

“When we checked the details of the family’s phone calls, we understood that the calls from certain numbers stopped after the police reached them. The frequent depositing of money into their accounts from certain accounts also suddenly stopped,” the officer said.

With the help of the electronic cell, the investigation team noticed that the same mobile device was found working with a different SIM card. This was possible after tracking the device with its IMEI number. Later, the police found that the mobile phone was used by a woman in Chennai, who happened to be the wife of the accused.

The police said that the court will be informed of the arrest of the accused.