Mumbai: Thief absconding from 15 years identified with help of tattoo on wrist; held

Fifteen years after escaping the law, a tattoo mark came in handy to the investigators to nab an accused in a house breaking case. The accused, Armugam Palliswamy Devendra (63), was arrested by the RAK Marg police on Thursday.

Accused stopped attending hearings 15 years ago

According to the police, Devendra was untraceable for the last 15 years and had stopped attending court hearings. When no clue of the accused was found, the officials checked the information available with the police record. They found that a 'heart and cross' tattoo on his wrist of the right hand was recorded as his identifying mark.

Thereafter, a team was formed under the leadership of API Mahesh Lamkhede. The team started collecting details of the accused who have tattoos on their wrists on various apps made by the police department. They found one Armugam Palliswamy Mudaliyar has the same tattoo on his wrist as that of Devendra.

Multiple profiles of the same accused

The first and middle names of both the accused were same, only the surnames were different. The police checked the signatures of both the names and found they were the same, then the police confirmed that that both are same person. Subsequent investigation revealed that the accused works as a driver in a travel company, Fort. The police laid a trap and arrested the accused.

The police said that the accused was involved in many crimes and kept on changing his name. Five FIRs are registered against him at different police stations.

Police added that two cases were registered against the accused at Bhandup police station and one each at Antop Hill, Sion and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.