In early April, a few residents in a neighbourhood of Kozhikode city started to raise concerns over something strange that was happening in the locality. Someone was vandalising their houses, throwing stones and breaking window panes. A few said they could hear someone knocking on their doors at night, and then there were reports of theft. People also spotted an unknown man running around their houses at night.
When similar incidents were reported in other regions of Kozhikode and some parts of Thrissur district, reports began to surface that a ‘black man’ was on the run in these areas, though this was soon debunked by police officials.
However, until last Saturday, similar incidents continued to be reported in Kozhikode city. It was then that Kasaba police officials nabbed a 26-year-old man during an attempted theft in the city. It has now come to light that the arrested man — Muhammed Ajmal — a native of Kannur district, was the 'creep' caught on CCTV cameras, knocking at doors, throwing stones and scaring residents.
But this man's alleged crimes did not stop at that. Police now say that the accused also hid under people's beds and sexually harassed women.
“Though the complaints we received were regarding theft, after he was arrested, we have found that the accused has committed sexual offences,” Binu Thomas, station house officer (SHO) of Kasaba police station told TNM.
From CCTV footage, the police have learnt that Ajmal would break into houses, and then strip himself down and masturbate as the women slept in their rooms.
“Since most of them would have been sleeping, they weren’t aware of it. It is only when we started examining CCTV footage that we came to know that the accused exhibited such perverse behaviour,” said SHO Binu.
On Saturday, Ajmal was nabbed from Palayam after he had broken into a house where two minor girls lived. “The lady of the house had gone to the bathroom. When she came back, she saw that someone was under the bed. He ran off when she called out for help,” the official said.
According to police, within the Kasaba station limits alone, the accused had executed crimes in two places — a ladies hostel and a hospital.
Police officials also told TNM that there were instances when the man had been spotted by women while exhibiting inappropriate behaviour.
“During a theft attempt in a ladies hostel in town, we came to understand that he did something inappropriate. But the women did not mention that in the complaint because they thought 'it was not a dangerous act' anyway," the police official said.
According to officials of Kozhikode city police, the police were on the hunt for the man who had terrorised residents for three weeks.
The Kasaba police began the initial search, but after crimes were reported in other parts of the city, the Kozhikode Police Commissioner A V George IPS formed a squad with officers from seven police stations.
“We had been searching for him in abandoned houses in and around the city for many days. Finally through CCTV footage, we managed to recognise him. We received information that a man with similar features used to come to a shop to buy food regularly. Our officers in mufti — plain clothes — were stationed at the shop at 6 am on Saturday. They then heard a scream from a nearby house. It was the lady of the house who screamed after spotting the accused under her bed. Though he tried to escape, we caught him,” adds CI Binu.
A team of police officers, including Kasaba Sub Inspector Sijith, nabbed the culprit.
The Kozhikode city police has registered around 10 theft cases in various police stations in the region against the man. He has been charged for theft under sections 457 (Lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) and 380 (Theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to police, the man had been imprisoned in 2018 after he was convicted of assaulting a woman in Koyilandy. He was let out on parole just last month.
Currently, the accused has been remanded to Kozhikode sub-jail in judicial custody.
In one of the CCTV visuals accessed by TNM, the man can be seen throwing stones at a house in broad daylight. In the video dated April 21, the accused can be seen standing in what looks to be a backyard and peeping through the window.
Police officials raised concerns that this had happened despite people being present in the house. “None of them saw this man walking through their backyard. People need to be more cautious. From what we have observed, the accused used to target houses which had bathrooms outside. When people opened their door to use the bathroom in the morning, he used to sneak inside. In such cases, people should at least ask another person inside the house to lock the door till they come back,” he added.
Before the accused was nabbed, the police had even made loudspeaker announcements in some areas urging people to stay vigilant and exercise caution.
“But people have taken it very lightly. It is because of sheer luck that nothing grave happened. We do not want to frighten people, but just want them to be cautious in future,” the police officer adds.
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