Kalpetta: Kerala police have arrested a 27-year-old Arunachal Pradesh native in a two-week-old hit-and-run incident in Kalpetta. The incident happened on December 18 in which a pedestrian, Poulose, a resident of Koodaranji, Kozhikode, was injured.

The accused, Nyaki Lollen, a native of West Siang, Arunachal Pradesh, was employed as a staff member at a resort in Ooty. He had come to Wayanad as a temporary replacement at a resort when the accident happened. Soon after the accident, he altered his bike’s number plate to evade AI cameras but was tracked down by two Kerala police.

Witnesses could not note the bike’s registration number as they attended to the injured man. They only recalled the biker wearing a cap instead of a helmet, and the bike colour was red.

Civil Police Officers C K Noufal and K K Vipin led the investigation despite having minimal evidence. Initially, they assumed the AI camera network would reveal the bike’s registration number, as the rider was not wearing a helmet. However, Lollen had manipulated his number plate with stickers to deceive the cameras.

The officers examined hundreds of CCTV recordings from hotels, shops, and homes, eventually tracing the bike to a resort in Vythiri. Although the bike and its rider were missing, the resort staff said that he returned to Ooty shortly after the incident.

Realising that Lollen planned to return to Arunachal Pradesh on New Year’s Eve, the officers swiftly acted. They apprehended him at his rented apartment in Ooty on December 31.

Kalpetta Inspector V J Binoy commended the officers for their relentless efforts. ''They reviewed extensive CCTV footage and ensured the culprit was brought to justice,'' he said. He was remanded to judicial custody by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kalpetta, on January 1.