Idukki: The Kumily Police on Saturday arrested a man who had been absconding for 28 years after allegedly murdering a Chenkara native over a property dispute. The incident dates back to June 7, 1997.

The accused, Mahadevan, a resident of Varusanadu in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district, was the fourth accused in the case. He, along with Lingam (the victim’s elder brother) and relatives Dhanaraj and Balachandran, had allegedly assaulted and stabbed Ganeshan to death during a dispute over family property.

While the other three accused were arrested soon after the crime, Mahadevan fled to Tamil Nadu and remained in hiding for nearly three decades.

The Kumily Police launched a covert operation led by Civil Police Officer M Mariappan, who went undercover in Varushanad posing as a bank employee. After months of surveillance, the team tracked down Mahadevan to a remote forest settlement where he was living with his wife and two children.

The accused was produced before a court in Peermade and remanded to judicial custody.