Thirty-one years after a brutal crime shook Chengannur, police have finally apprehended a suspect. Jayaprakash, now 57, a resident of Cheriyanad, was taken into custody for his alleged role in a decades-old murder case.
The cold case dates back to November 15, 1994, when 71-year-old Kuttappapanicker of Cheriyanad was brutally assaulted with stones and bare hands around 7:15 p.m. Tragically, Kuttappapanicker succumbed to his injuries on December 4, 1994, while receiving treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kottayam.
Following the attack, Jayaprakash reportedly fled to Mumbai. Upon learning of Kuttappapanicker’s death, he escaped further, making his way to Saudi Arabia where he was employed. Despite a charge sheet being filed against him as an absconding accused on April 30, 1997, and numerous arrest warrants issued by the Chengannur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, he successfully evaded capture for decades, remaining a phantom in the eyes of the law, according to a police official.
In 1999, the court officially declared Jayaprakash a ‘proclaimed offender.’ The breakthrough came after a newly formed special investigation team relentlessly pursued leads. Their efforts uncovered that he was indeed living in a Gulf country and had even married a woman from Karazhma in Chennithala. The long wait ended when authorities nabbed him during a recent vacation visit back from the Gulf.
Jayaprakash has since been presented before a local court and placed in judicial custody, bringing a degree of closure to a case that spanned over three decades.