Salem cops arrest accused 44 years after crime

SALEM: The long arms of the law caught up with three persons, including a woman, on Friday, 44 years after their involvement in an assault case.

According to Deevattipatti police, in 1977, Nallappaa alias Gnanambal, a resident of Danishpet near Kadaiyampatti sold a single plot of land to several people. Upon realising that they had been cheated, the buyers confronted her. Meanwhile, a group of persons, who supported Gnanambal , assaulted the buyers. Deevattipatti police registered a case against 16 persons under various sections of the IPC. Of the 16 accused, 13 appeared before the Omalur sub court and were acquitted for want of evidence. The others ignored the summons and were declared as absconding.

In the course of time, police lost track of the case. It sprang back to life when the court recently started to dispose of pending cases. A fresh warrant was issued against the accused in January this year following which Deevattipatti police formed a special team led by sub-inspector (SSI) Thangaraj to trace G Krishnan, K Mani alias Subramani and his wife Alamelu.

Most of the police personnel who served at the station when the case was registered had retired and the new team was not aware of the details. Nevertheless, they tracked down the accused.

Eventually Krishnan (now 66) was traced in Muthunaickenpatti, K Mani (now 65) and Alamelu (61) in Vellakalpatti. They were arrested on Friday and produced before the Omalur sub Court. The three were granted bail.

Since the case is over 40 years old, sources could not confirm if action was taken against Gnanambal, who sold the land. SSI Thangaraj was unavailable for comments.