How a tattoo helped Mumbai cops solve 15-year-old case

Working patiently and diligently, the Mumbai Police caught a thief, wanted in several cases of theft and housebreaking, who had been eluding arrest for several years, thanks to the tattoo on the accused’s hand.

Armugam Pallaswami Devendra Mudaliar, who is 63 years old was arrested in South Mumbai. Using a fake identity, he was working for a travel agency. He faces more than five cases in Mumbai and Gujarat and is wanted by law for the case registered by Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station in 2008 for theft.

He had been declared as absconding by the local court as he could not be traced.

Initially, the cops received information that he had fled to Tamil Nadu or was dead but the police decided to continue pursuing the case. They started looking for him at different places, including Mahim, Kalyan and Bhandup.

Going carefully through previous records the investigators found that Mudaliar had a tattoo on his hand and his signature.

Armed with these details they tracked him down and apprehended him in the Fort area. Both his tattoo and signature were verified and following his arrest, the 15-year-old case was solved.