Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala police on Tuesday arrested one of its most wanted criminals Antony Varghese aka Aadu Antony, who had been on the run for more than three years after allegedly stabbing to death a police driver and injuring an assistant sub-inspector in Kollam in 2012.
A special team of Palakkad police nabbed the 50-year-old criminal, who carries a cash award of Rs.1 lakh on his head, from Gopalapuram near Chittur when he came to see his son. The police caught him by tracking a phone call he made to his son.
A police team from Kollam has takenhim to Paripally, where he stabbed constable-cum-driver Maniyan Pillai, and sub-inspector Joy during a vehicle checking. The cops at the Paripally police station celebrated the arrest by distributing sweets.
A native of Kundara in Kollam, Antony is called by the police as ”techie thief” as he has shown a preference for electronic gadgets. Police said he had struck at houses, offices, schools, banks and other establishments and burgled especially laptops, TVs and other electronic items worth over Rs. 50 lakh from 2002.
The accused had also shown special liking for women. Police said he had married at least 20 women. He used to marry women from impoverished families through newspaper advertisements and abandon them after his purpose is served.
He uses the women to hire apartments, gain residential certificates from local authorities for getting driving licences and ration cards, opening bank accounts and taking mobile phone connections. His last marriage was with a woman at Palakkad.
The Kerala police had set up one of the most massive hunts in its history for Antony. Besides pasting posters bearing his photos in bus stands and railway stations in Kerala and other states and releasing his CCTV footages in the electronic media, the police also took the search to the social media. Antony first came under the police radar in 2002, when he was arrested in Kozhikode in connection with some 40 burglary cases. He was released on bail after three months. He was again arrested from Chennai in 2004 and was in jail till 2008.
His last brush with the police was on June 26 2012, when the two cops who were on patrol duty at Kulamada Junction near Paripally stopped the Omni van in which he was traveling. While being led to the police jeep, he whipped out a knife and stabbed Pillai, who was in the driver”s seat, in the chest. He then slit Joy”s abdomen with the same knife and escaped in his van. Pillai died on the spot.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has described the arrest of the elusive criminal as a big achievement of the Kerala police. He congratulated the team who apprehended him and announced cash rewards for the members of the team.
