Murder to Attar: NIA arrests last offender in Ramalingam murder case
"Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a post-graduate, had changed his name, wandered from place to place selling Attar in front of mosques and dargahs. Those who had interacted with him never knew he was a wanted man in the Ramalingam murder case," sources said.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah
CHENNAI: While the search for the final proclaimed offender in the Ramalingam murder case has been on since 2019, his arrest by the National Investigation Agency on Monday revealed he had been selling Attar across dargahs in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, sources said.
"Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a post-graduate, had changed his name, wandered from place to place selling Attar in front of mosques and dargahs. Those who had interacted with him never knew he was a wanted man in the Ramalingam murder case," sources said.
When the family was informed about his arrest by the police, they were not ready to believe it. "We even made him talk to the family members. It looks like the family thought somebody was pulling a prank, and they never came to see him before being produced before a court and remanded," sources added.
Apart from him, the last of the six absconding proclaimed offenders, the NIA had also apprehended an additional individual for harbouring the fugitives.
Hailing from Thanjavur district, Mohammed Ali Jinnah was a former district president of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI). He had been evading arrest since Ramalingam, a PMK functionary, was hacked to death in Thanjavur on February 5, 2019.
The NIA had declared him a proclaimed offender and announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information about Jinnah.
According to the NIA, investigations revealed Jinnah's key role in "conspiring, supervising and coordinating with other accused in the killing." His arrest was made possible based on critical information provided by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) unit of the Tamil Nadu Police.
In the same operation, the agency arrested a man identified as Asmath, who is accused of sheltering the proclaimed offenders for several years.
This development comes just five days after the NIA arrested two other absconding proclaimed offenders and three harbourers in the same case.
The NIA took over the investigation from the Tiruvidaimaruthur police on March 7, 2019, and filed a chargesheet in August 2019. The agency stated that its probe into the larger conspiracy behind the murder is ongoing. The case is allegedly linked to members of the banned PFI.