KOCHI: What matters the most in crime investigation, at times, is out-of-the-box thinking. Officers at the Hill Palace police station in Kochi recently pulled off such an operation, in which they donned the roles of an auto-rickshaw driver and purdah-clad women to nab a 20-year-old history-sheeter.
The police had been searching for Jithesh alias Jithu for weeks. He was dangerous, and had been accused of theft, assault, and even murder. He had allegedly bludgeoned a security guard to death with a brick at Piravom a few years ago.
Cases against Jithu were registered in Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kottayam. “Our probe, however, started with a two-wheeler theft case,” says an officer at the Hill Palace station. “With the assistance of the cyber cell, we identified the accused as Jithu. We arrested him from the Kothanaloor in Kottayam on May 12. In the interrogation, he told us about 16 vehicle theft incidents and his accomplice.”
Then came a twist. Though handcuffed, Jithu managed to break free while being taken for evidence gathering. Station House Officer V Gopakumar — who had just received orders of being transferred from Hill Palace to Nedumbassery police station — took up the case as a personal mission. He was determined to close the case before taking charge of the new unit.
“We placed people close to Jithu into surveillance,” says Gopakumar, who led the probe team. “Officers combed areas where Jithu was suspected of hiding. On May 12, we received information that Jithu had been hiding near a petrol bunk in Uzhavoor. However, he managed to flee when we reached the spot. He is a sprinter, capable of vanishing acts. No doubt, if he had been guided well, he could have achieved feats in athletics.”
Officers got a vital break when they tracked Jithu’s girlfriend. She revealed that Jithu had visited her after escaping from police custody. He used a machete to get rid of the handcuffs. Jithu and his girlfriend had initially hidden in a church at Uzhavoor in Kottayam. They had planned to flee to Tamil Nadu. However, they aborted the plan due to the police deployment in the area.
Subsequently, Jithu sent his girlfriend back to her house, and he constantly changed his hideout. Officers decided to trap Jithu with the assistance of his girlfriend. “We deployed two female officers near her house. They kept vigil for two days. Jithu had given his girlfriend a mobile phone. But only he knew the password. He wanted to ensure she was cut off, and only he could call her,” says Gopakumar.
Jithu finally made a call to her from a stranger’s number on May 15. He instructed her to reach Kurupanthara railway station by 7.30pm. Gopakumar planned an undercover operation, to not let Jithu ‘sprint’ away yet again. “We started searching for purdahs,” he says. “We bought them from a shop and wore them there itself. One officer played the auto-rickshaw driver taking the girlfriend to the railway station. There they sat on a bench, waiting for Jithu.”
Meanwhile, Jithu called to ensure that she had reached. “Soon, we spotted him crossing the railway track from the opposite platform. We intercepted and held him tight so that he could not escape. It was an unforgettable operation,” says Gopakumar. Thrikkakara Assistant Commissioner P V Baby concurs, adding that Gopakumar is a “very dedicated officer”.
“Along with the team, he worked really hard on the case in spite of being transferred to another station,” Baby notes. “He did not even sleep for several days, and was adamant about arresting Jithu before relieving charge of the station.” All set to take charge of a new station, Gopakumar says he believes Jithu can be reformed. “Broken family and childhood angst are what led him to the world of crime,” he adds.
“He is just 20 and has enough time to put his life back on the right track. The same is the case with many young criminals out there.”