Many thanks to the Times of India, Kerala for their coverage of 'The Stolen Necklace'
'It Can Happen To You Too’
By Disney Tom
Nearly five years ago, VK Thajudheen was accused of stealing and bundled into prison where he had to spend 54 days after police picked him up for snatching a necklace from a woman and fleeing on a scooter.
But while Thajudheen maintained he was innocent the police claimed they had vital evidence. They had CCTV footage of a man fleeing the crime scene and he looked like him. That resemblance eventually led to Thajudheen’s arrest, ruining his reputation, career, and life.
A middle-class entrepreneur, Thajudheen was wrongfully arrested on July 5, 2018, a day after his daughter’s Nikah. He had come home on leave from Qatar for his daughter’s wedding. On that fateful day, he was returning home with his family after dinner when he found the police waiting for him.
The incident highlights the flaws in arrests based merely on CCTV identification without proper probe. There was no other evidence placing him at the crime scene on that day. “I was at home that day. After having taken my daughter and wife to a beautician’s house, I had returned home,” he said. But at noon, the same day, a man snatched a necklace from a woman and fled away. He was caught on CCTV speeding off on a scooter.
According to the cops, the thief captured on the camera had an uncanny resemblance to Thajudheen and they pinned the crime on him. He tried to explain to them he was at home and pleaded with them to check his phone’s location information from mobile towers to confirm his version.
A man who led a quiet life, Thajudheen said he was in a state of shock and too stunned when the cops laid the blame squarely at his feet. “I was horrified, and I told them that I didn’t do it, but they did not believe me. I was dumbfounded, words refused to come out of my mouth. Soon, they started harassing and hitting me,” said Thajudeen.
The police were in no mood to relent but they offered him the option to enter a guilty plea and admit to having committed the crime. He was told he will be allowed to go free if he pays up for the necklace. But he turned down the deal. He could never admit to a crime he did not commit and brand himself as a thief.
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In the end, exoneration came and Thajudheen was formally cleared of the crime. He is now fighting for compensation for spending days in prison for a robbery he did not commit and punishment for the cops who cared so little about stealing a common man’s freedom and blemishing his dignity without conducting a proper investigation.
‘The Stolen Necklace’, a new book, coauthored by veteran journalist Shevlin Sebastian and Thajudeen, tells this true story of ‘a small crime in a small town’ and it sounds an ominous warning: ‘If it can happen to him, it can happen to you…’
Shevlin said what intrigued him the most about Thajudheen’s experience was the possibility of it happening to anyone. “A man was put in prison simply because he looked like another person. I felt it made for an intriguing story. Initially, even Thajudheen thought that it was his younger version in the CCTV footage. The ordeal had a deep impact on him, and he told me his story with a lot of emotion,” said Shevlin.
His incarceration had cost him his job in Qatar and Thajudheen is now working in sales in the garment industry.
“The image on the CCTV footage was grainy. The person had a graying beard and spectacles like me. He was bald and at that time, I was also bald. Police put together all these similarities and blamed me,” he said.
“I faced a lot of challenges after I decided to not make a compromise and agree to a settlement. But I think if I had compromised, I would have struggled more. If such a situation arises, I will do the same thing again,” said Thajudheen.
Shevlin said the basic flaw in the police investigation was that they did not verify the mobile call data records to get information about his location.
“The police officer who arrested Thajudheen was denied a salary increment for a brief period, but he did not face any strong disciplinary action. After Thajudheen was exonerated, political parties made a big issue of it. Still, the police officer managed to get away, without facing much trouble. They just transferred him,” Shevlin said.
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1 年I like that story of the book. Nice to read. Philomina.