THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Women journalists were his prime targets. For the past five years, he wrote them cryptic, lewd letters under the cover of anonymity. It seemed like an obnoxious hobby.
In April, when the police arrested the person behind the letters, many women journalists were eager to know his identity. They, however, were flummoxed on learning that it was a 75-year-old retired government servant, C M Rajagopalan of Palakkad, who had been writing the creepy letters to them.
“Even we were stunned,” says Palakkad Town South Station House Officer Siju Abraham. “He had retired as a senior superintendent from a government department and was living alone in a lodge. His targets were not limited to women journalists, but also included judges, lawyers, and activists.”
Siju adds that officers are yet to ascertain what prompted Rajagopalan to write these letters. However, it was observed that some of his targets were people who handled cases related to women and children, including those pertaining to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“We need to investigate if there were any underlying psychological issues behind his actions,” the SHO says. “Among journalists, those who covered stories involving children or POCSO cases were targeted often. The case registered at our station involved a lewd letter sent to a female judicial officer who was handling POCSO cases.”
After the case was registered in February, the preliminary probe revealed that many people across the state had received letters from the same unknown person.
“Most of the recipients were receiving inland and registered postal letters, all of which bore the stamp of the Palakkad Chief Post Office,” says Siju.
“We assigned the case to two women officers, one holding the rank of a senior civil police officer and the other a civil police officer.”
Initially, the police assumed that the letter writer might have been someone who travelled to Palakkad just to post the letters. Another possibility considered was that the individual worked in Palakkad but resided elsewhere.
“Palakkad town has 12 post offices. We called a meeting with the postmen from these offices, and sought their assistance,” says one of the investigating officers.
“We created a WhatsApp group for coordination. We showed the postmen some letters written by the accused, so that they could identify if any future letters with the same handwriting were received.”
For nearly two months, the post offices and post boxes in Palakkad town were under surveillance. However, a breakthrough remained elusive.
Then, in April, officers were alerted about a letter suspected to be written by the accused that was being withheld at the post office. “We rushed to the post office and got details of the postbox where the letter had been dropped,” says the officer.
With knowledge of the specific postbox, the police decided to examine the CCTV footage from the area. “The CCTV footage revealed four or five individuals who had posted letters at the postbox,” the officer recalls.
“We found that all but one of them had been residing in close localities. Upon reexamining the CCTV footage, we noted that just one elderly man was left to be identified. He had arrived by private bus, posted a letter, and returned by bus.”
Officers gathered information about the man from bus employees; one of them gave a lead on his whereabouts. Without delay, the police team reached the man’s doorstep in Dhoni village and took him into custody.
During the arrest, several anonymous letters — ready to be posted — were recovered from his possession. However, since the accused was charged with a bailable offence, he was released after the arrest was recorded.
“Subsequently, police teams from Kochi and Kozhikode arrested him in similar cases after women journalists lodged complaints in those regions as well,” says Siju. “We hope the legal actions will deter him from continuing his bizarre letter-writing.”