Tamil Nadu

25 years on, seized by long arm of law

Staff Reporter

64-year-old man convicted of abduction and rape in 1982

TAMBARAM: The long arm of the law caught up with a 64-year-old man, 25 years after he was found guilty on charges of kidnapping and raping a minor girl. The accused Meeran, who in 1982 was charged with abducting and raping a 16-year-old girl, had been sentenced to prison by a court. He fled the city after coming out on bail to appeal to the Madras High Court.

On Wednesday, Pazhavanthangal police, who had not closed the case, arrested him and remanded him to judicial custody again after they traced him to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where he was running a tea shop.

Meeran was a fish vendor in B.V.Nagar in Pazhavanthangal in 1982 when he kidnapped and raped the girl, the daughter of a government employee. The girl, 23 years younger than him, was rescued and brought back to Chennai from the Andamans, where she was taken after being abducted.

Pazhavanthangal police arrested him and after trial, he was pronounced guilty of kidnapping and raping a minor girl by a Chengalpattu court in 1982 and given a seven-year prison sentence.

After a couple of months in prison, he was released on bail and he went on appeal to the Madras High Court. He was asked to sign at the Pazhavanthangal police station regularly. But after some time, he stopped reporting to the police station. Since then he was absconding, police said.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court in 1990, confirmed the charges against him, but reduced the prison term to three years.

Efforts to trace Meeran were in vain as police had no clue to his whereabouts.

However, a few days ago police were informed that a relative of Meeran was in town; on questioning, he spilled the beans.

A police team picked up Meeran from Andhoor Konam near Tiruvananthapuram, where he was running a tea shop. Police said that after he stopped reporting to Pazhavanthangal station in 1982, he shifted to Kerala with his family.

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