Man wanted in rape case held after 20 years

Attingal: Continuing their drive to nab fugitives with long-pending arrest warrants in their names, the rural district police have arrested a man, who had been wanted in connection with a 20-year-old rape case.
The arrest was made by Venjarammoodu police.
Jayan Ashari, 46, a resident of Jayabhavan, Payyatingakudi, Anakudi near Vamanapuram, is the accused. The police had registered a case against him in 1998 on charges of raping a woman after giving her false promise of marriage. Besides rape, he is also facing charges of abetment of suicide as the complainant in the case allegedly committed suicide.
According to the police, the accused was traced in Kollam where he was working as a lottery agent.
A team from Venjarammoodu police station went to Kollam to take him into custody. He was subsequently brought to the station, where his arrest was recorded on Tuesday. Following this, he was produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
According to sub-inspector Bineesh Lal of Venjaramoodu police station, the accused was in a relationship with the victim, who was then 26-years-old. She was his neighbour. He allegedly gave her false promise of marriage and sexually exploited her.
“Later, Jayan started ignoring her. She suspected that it was because he wanted to avoid her from his life and wanted to marry another woman. Hence, she filed a complaint before the police,” the SI said. But, Jayan went into hiding and thereby evaded arrest. The complainant later committed suicide, following which the police added the relevant section for abetment of suicide too in the case. After the police failed to arrest him, a local court issued an arrest warrant in his name, declaring him as a wanted criminal.
“This case came to our notice while going through files of unsolved cases as part of our recent drive of nabbing criminals with long-pending warrants in their names. We launched an investigation again and learned from reliable sources that the accused was settled in Ayoor in Kollam and pursuing that lead, our team succeeded in arresting him,” the sub-inspector said.