The Mavelikara police on Sunday arrested a 51-year-old murder convict after almost 27 years on the run.
Reji alias Achamma was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kerala High on September 11, 1996 for murdering Mariyamma (61) of Mankamkuzhy, near Mavelikara, in 1990. She went into hiding within hours of the court declaring her guilty and awarded a life term.
The police said that Reji was nabbed from Adivad in Pallarimangalam grama panchayat in Ernakulam, where she lived under the fake name Mini Raju. Mariyamma was found stabbed to death at her house on February 21, 1990. The murderer took away her 3.5 sovereign gold wedding chain and earring after slitting her ear.
Though the police arrested Reji of Arunoottimangalam, near Mavelikara, in the case, the Additional District Court, Mavelikara acquitted her in 1993. The prosecution filed an appeal in the High Court, which resulted in the guilty verdict.
After the initial attempts yielded negative results, the efforts to nab Reji was renewed recently after Additional District Court-II, Mavelikara, judge K.N. Ajith Kumar issued a warrant against the murder convict. A special investigation team was constituted.
The police said that after the High Court verdict, the convict had lived and worked at several places in Kottayam. Reji married a Thuckalay native in 1999 and moved to Tamil Nadu. She came back with her family and worked at Kothamangalam before shifting to Adivad, where she worked as a sales girl for the past five years.
She was arrested by a police team led by Circle Inspector C. Sreejith. She will be produced before the Additional District Court-II, Mavelikara, on Monday.
