The Vanchiyoor police on Wednesday arrested a man who had been absconding for over two decades after sexually assaulting his student in 2001.

The accused, Muthu Kumar, a native of Niramankara in Thiruvananthapuram, was initially arrested in 2001 in connection with the case and served three months in jail before being released on bail. However, he went on the run soon after, said Shanif H F, Inspector at Vanchiyoor Police Station.

Shanif said that the incident took place when Muthu called the student out of school and sexually assaulted her. To evade arrest, Muthu later converted to Christianity, changed his name to Sam, and has been living in Chennai for several years.

After his release on bail, Muthu first fled to Nagercoil, where he stayed with his sister for a few months. When he realised that the police had learned of his whereabouts, he escaped to Tenkasi and lived with his brother before eventually moving to Chennai. In 2007, the court issued a long-pending warrant against him.

According to police, while in Chennai, Muthu married a woman and had a child. To evade detection, he deliberately avoided all forms of traceable communication or financial activity — he used no mobile phones, created no bank accounts, and maintained no digital identity. He relied solely on public telephone booths to stay in touch with his family, making it extremely difficult for the police to track him down.

Meanwhile, Muthu married again. In 2020, his first wife died, and he moved in with his second wife, a Christian, and subsequently converted to Christianity and worked as a priest. 

Shanif said that despite continuous efforts, the police had struggled for years to trace Muthu’s whereabouts. "We monitored all phone calls made to his house, but they yielded no concrete leads," he said. The police later found that Muthu's mother had been receiving money transfers from multiple individuals based in Chennai. "He used to outsource bank payments. There are people outside of the banks to send money. On all occasions, he had given a different name, which made it extremely difficult for us to track him," the officer added.

The breakthrough in the case came when the investigation team traced a phone call made to Muthu's home. Acting on this lead, the police followed the trail to Chennai. After continuous surveillance, the team finally located him by tracking his associates and church records.

Muthu has been remanded by the Nedumangad SC/ST Court and charged under relevant sections pertaining to rape and kidnapping, along with provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.