THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After about 25 years of being on the run, a 50-year-old man accused of raping a minor student has been arrested.

Vanchiyoor police on Thursday arrested Muthukumar, a resident of Karamana area.

Sources said that Muthukumar fled to Chennai immediately after being booked for the crime. There he converted to Christianity and renamed himself ‘Sam’. He became a pastor and had been engaged in religious activities since.

Vanchiyoor police said they had tried to locate the man earlier, but failed to as there were no clues left behind to trace the accused. He stopped using mobile phones to call his relatives, including his mother, sister, and brother. He also stopped using his bank account to send money to his mother, instead choosing cash deposit machines to conduct transactions.

“He used to send Rs 2000 each month to his mother via cash deposit machines. Whenever he wanted to talk to the family members, he used the private phone booths. He knew he might be tracked any time and hence took precaution so as to not leave any footprints behind,” said a cop.

Upon reaching Chennai, Muthukumar had married another woman. But she died shortly after their wedding.

Muthukumar then married a Christian woman and assumed a different identity.

After years of living a double life, Muthukumar was confident about his safety and lowered his defences finally. He made a phone call to one of his relatives from his own number, unaware of the fact that cops were tracking his relative’s phone calls.

Vanchiyoor police had reopened his file as part of an effort to crack all the long-pending cold cases.

The police said he had abused a 14-year-girl, who was from a marginalized community. Apart from sections for rape, he was also charged under the SC/ST Atrocities Act.

At the time of the incident, the accused was working as a tuition teacher.

He was produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody.