27 years on the run, Kerala woman convicted for murdering her employer finally caught
Woman caught 27 years after the murder
Updated: Jun 29th, 2023
Deceased Mariamma (Left), convicted Reji (Right) |
A 51-year-old woman, who was wanted for murder and had been on the run for 27 years, was finally nabbed by Mavelikara police on June 26 in Kerala.
Reji, then 18-year-old housemaid, murdered her senior citizen employer in 1990. Years later, she was convicted by the Kerala High Court and was punished with lifetime prison, but Reji alias Achamma vanished in thin air before her imprisonment.
Reji was working as a domestic help for Mariamma, 61, a native of Mankamkuzhy near Mavelikara in Alappuzha, who lived with her husband and three children and considered Reji as her own daughter. Mariyamma was found dead in her house on Feb 21, 1990, with a deep wound on the neck. Mariamma suffered about nine stab injuries. Reji had robbed Mariyamma's gold chain and chopped off her ears to take away the earrings. Reportedly, at one point in time, Reji was fired as the domestic help for her rude behaviour, but continued to be in touch with Mariamma even after that.
Reji was acquitted in 1993 by a sessions court, giving her the benefit of doubt. However, on Sept 11, 1996, she was caught residing in Kerala with a fake name Mini Raju, when she was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kerala high court. However, she managed to abscond within hours after the verdict.
She remained in hiding for 27 years and was not known to have been in contact with her relatives. After her conviction in 1996, she fled to Kottayam from Mavelikara and worked as a housemaid. In 1999, she married a construction worker from Tamilnadu, moving to Thuckalay in Kanyakumari. She later worked as a salesgirl in Adivad, Kerala, at a textile shop for five years, too.
Police conducted extensive searches but she had disappeared. Recently, a warrant was issued against her by the sessions court and a special investigation team was formed that reopened the case. The team was reportedly informed that she had passed away due to COVID-19, but the information was falsified after conducting a verification.
On June 26, the police caught her and she was sent to the central prison in Thiruvananthapuram, leaving behind the life she had built as Mini Raju.
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