Seventeen years after the murder of an elderly sibling duo had shocked the state, Kerala police on Monday confirmed that 'Ripper' Jayanandan, a notorious criminal, was the one behind the crime.
The arrest of the man, who has been undergoing punishment in connection with certain other cases, has been recorded in the case of the twin murder in Ponekkara in Edappally, in which an elderly woman and a man were killed on May 30, 2004, they said.
In the sensational case, the 74-year old woman was raped before being murdered and the 60-year old man was killed brutally and their house was ransacked.
ADGP Sreejith told reporters that a self-revelation which the accused made to his co-prisoner while staying in the central prison in Thiruvananthapuram last year led to the case being cracked.
Though the police already had doubts regarding his involvement in the murder, based on his modus operandi, there was no evidence to connect him with the case, he said.
After that, the police managed to collect concrete evidence to substantiate his role and thus recorded his arrest earlier this month.
The possibility of DNA profiling would be explored in the case, the officer added.
He had murdered eight persons in six cases during the period between 2003 and 2008.
Jayanandan had been convicted in two murder cases and eight of the 15 burglary cases registered.
He escaped from the jail three times but landed in police custody again.
He is undergoing life imprisonment now as a combined punishment in various cases.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Viral Video: Bird 'Unfurls' National Flag In Kerala, Here's What Really Happened Kerala State Film Awards 2024: Aadujeevitham Secures 9 Awards, Prithviraj Sukumaran Wins Big National Awards: This Is How Much Rishab Shetty, Neena Gupta And Other Winners Will Get. Any Guesses? Doctors Halt OPD Services Amid Nationwide Strike Over Kolkata Rape Horror Kolkata Rape-Murder: Fractures, 150 mg Semen, Other Claims Denied By Cops CBI Team At Kolkata Hospital For Digital Mapping Of Crime Scene Centre Invites Bids To Empanel AI Infra Providers Under Rs 10,372 Crore Plan "Climate Change A Downside Risk To Indian Economy": Gita Gopinath To NDTV High-Value Cash Transactions At Hotels, Hospitals Come Under Tax Scrutiny Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.