Kannur, Kerala:
The Kerala Police has set up three teams that will go to Rajasthan, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to piece together how rape-convict-on-the-run Bitti Mohanty allegedly became Raghav Rajan.
Today, the state police was given 10-day custody of the man it says is Bitti Mohanty. The man, who had earlier reportedly confessed that he was Mohanty, now insists he is Raghav Rajan.
One police team will head to Rajasthan tomorrow with the man; they hope to get a confirmation on his identity there. Bitty Mohanty was convicted in Alwar, Rajasthan in April 2006 for raping a German tourist. Seven months later, he jumped parole that he was granted to visit his ailing mother.
He was last spotted in Cuttack, where his family lives and that is where the second Kerala Police team will head. Bitti Mohanty's father BB Mohanty was the Director General, Home Guards and Fire Services of Odisha when he was arrested and he was accused of aiding his son's escape. He was even arrested, before being granted bail.
Through the years Mr Mohanty has denied that he knew the whereabouts of his son. He also said repeatedly that his son was innocent and that he presumed he was dead. The Kerala Police team is expected to question Mr Mohanty in Odisha.
A third police team will be dispatched to Andhra Pradesh. The Kerala Police says it is here that it hopes to unearth who Raghav Rajan actually is.
Bitti Mohanty is believed by the police to have escaped to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh when he jumped parole in 2006. They believed he lived in that state for three years before slipping into Kerala.
Last Friday, they detained the man who calls himself Raghav Rajan on charges of impersonation and forgery on a complaint from his employer the State Bank of Travancore in Kannur. The bank had received an anonymous tip-off about Rajan.
The police claims that the man used fake documents like a matriculation certificate, a passport and a driver's licence to get the job at the bank. He also claims to hold an MBA degree from a Kannur University and has taught in a school in Kerala.