21 hours Ago By A Selvaraj
Paneerselvam (left); Palani (right) CHENNAI: The Vikram-Vethal conundrum mystery was solved by the Chennai city police . A police team that tracked the suspect, Palani, for almost five months, nabbed him after trailing his digital footprints. After a man, Paneerselvam, was convicted by a Mahila Court in Chennai, he appealed the verdict, and the Madras High Court reduced the conviction from five years to three years.
After the convicted man filed an Interlocutory Application before the Supreme Court, the court confirmed the high court’s order, and his petition was dismissed. The police team apprehended Panneerselvam, and then the case took a big twist. Panneerselvam is the convicted criminal’s brother, and he was not involved in any case.
The man convicted by the Mahila Court, and whose conviction was confirmed by the Madras High Court and Supreme Court, is innocent. Following this, the cops were chasing the real suspect, Panneerselvam’s brother Palani, who remained missing since June 2024. After tracking the suspect closely for five months, the police team apprehended Palani from a hideout in Madipakkam.
T Nagar Assistant Commissioner of Police, K Vijayan, said, “The suspect had tonsured his head to hide his identity. However, the police team that tracked him all these months trailed his digital footprints.” An investigation officer said, “Palani stayed low after watching the news telecast on all television channels and published in newspapers.
” He used some fake documents to buy SIM cards and used them for two weeks before disposing of them. To divert the attention of the police personnel, Palani travelled in an MTC bus and drew cash from a few ATM kiosks. However, the police team tracked him and finally apprehended him from Madipakkam, police said.
The arrested Palani was produced before the court, and he was remanded in judicial custody. The magistrate appreciated the police team for arresting the absconded Palani. The issue started as Palani, an advocate clerk, befriended a woman, Lourdu Mary, in 2002, and they began living together at a rented house in Trust Puram in Kodambakkam.
After Palani’s father died, he lost his certificate. Palani used his brother Panneerselvam’s certificate to get a job and then continued to pose as Panneerselvam instead of Palani. He told his live-in partner his name was Panneerselvam, but that his family called him Palani.
The couple had two children. Trouble started after he attacked the woman and one of the children after a domestic quarrel reported 15 years ago. Based on Lourdu Mary’s complaint, Kodambakkam police booked Palani for an attempt to murder and for offences under the Juvenile Justice Act.
In the complaint, Mary mentioned her husband’s name as Panneerselvam. The cops registered a case against Panneerselvam. At that time, there was no Aadhar card, and Panneerselvam produced his elder brother’s documents as identity proof, said Kodambakkam Inspector of Police, Perundurai R Murugan.
An investigation officer said, “As Palani and his brother look alike, the then police officials didn’t suspect him and attached all the documents as Panneerselvam in their first information report (FIR).” Though Panneerselvam was not formally arrested, he attended trial regularly, and in 2018, a Mahila Court in the city sentenced him to five years in jail and a fine of Rs.10,000.
In 2019, hearing his appeal, the Madras High Court reduced the jail term to three years but retained the fine. He moved to the Supreme Court, which confirmed the Madras High Court order earlier this year. The Apex Court also ordered convict Panneerselvam to surrender before the trial court.
Palani, however, absconded. ACPK Vijayan said, “After reviewing the pending warrants, a team was assigned to track the absconded suspect.” The police team, led by the Inspector of Police, Perundurai Murugan, tracked Panneerselvam to Kancheepuram.
That’s when they discovered that the Panneerselvam in their records was Palani’s elder brother. Palani had fooled everyone – his wife, police, and the courts – and vanished..
