Kochi: For months, absconding wanted criminal Dileesh, alias ‘Pennachi Dileesh’, appeared to be one step ahead of the police. He ditched his SIM card, hopped between public Wi-Fi networks across three states and even planted a fake Instagram trail to mislead investigators.
But the digital cat-and-mouse game ended with one clue he could not shake off: repeated internet communications from a single IP address in Bengaluru.
Kochi City Police finally tracked Dileesh (43), a native of Kumbalam, to a flat at Hulimavu in Bengaluru and arrested him on Sunday in connection with the armed abduction, assault and robbery of an Idukki native man on Willingdon Island in February.
The arrest was carried out by a joint team of Harbour Crime Police and the Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner of Police’s Special Investigation Team.
Dileesh had gone to extraordinary lengths to stay off the police radar. Investigators said he operated without a SIM card and relied on public Wi-Fi and device hotspots while moving through Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Then came what appeared to be a major breakthrough. On July 27, Dileesh posted a selfie on his Instagram showing himself at the Kochi court premises, giving the impression that he was about to surrender. Police and intelligence personnel rushed to the court complex after noticing the photo.
But CCTV checks revealed that he had not been there on that day and later it was found that the photograph was an old one he used to fool the police. It was a deliberate decoy.
The real breakthrough came later, when digital surveillance detected recurring internet communications from the same IP address in Bengaluru over a period of two weeks.
“If he had used a SIM card, we could have traced him immediately. Instead, he constantly hopped Wi-Fi networks in hotels across states. But multiple communications began originating from within one specific IP address, giving us a concrete lead,” said Harbour Police Sub-Inspector P Anilkumar, who was part of the team that arrested him.
A team led by Anilkumar under the supervision of Ernakulam ACP KJ Peter traced him to a flat in Hulimavu in Bengaluru and arrested him. The team comprised CPO Josmon, ACP’s Special Investigation Team members SI Roni and ASI VK Saneesh Kumar.
Police sources said that Dileesh was found there with suspected associates linked to interstate narcotics networks, who helped him to evade police. Caught off guard, he surrendered without resistance.
An Instagram friendship that triggered a gang feud
The case against Dileesh dates back to the night of February 12, when Ashique Abdulkhader, 31, a vehicle dealer from Devikulam in Idukki, was intercepted near the Puthiya Road Walkway on Bristow Avenue, Rameswaram Island.
Ashique had travelled to Kochi in his Mahindra Bolero with his friend Riyas. Around 10 days earlier, he had become acquainted on Instagram with prime accused Delbin. The police said that seemingly casual online friendship became the trigger for the attack.
Delbin and Dileesh were reportedly involved in a feud with another wanted criminal, Cherthala Arun, also known as Don Arun. The police suspect the gang believed Ashique’s meeting with Delbin was part of a plan by Arun to attack them.
“Cherthala Arun and the first and second accused are in conflict. When a friend of someone they had a feud with initiated communication via Instagram and came down to Kochi from Idukki to meet him in person, they assumed it was a setup planned by Arun to attack them,” said police sources.
Acting on the suspicion, around 20 to 25 armed gang members arrived in three to four vehicles and intercepted Ashique and his friend Riyas at gunpoint.
The two were forced into the assailants’ vehicles. Ashique’s Bolero was seized, and ₹1.5 lakh kept inside it was allegedly robbed. During their confinement, both men were brutally assaulted, with Ashique repeatedly hit on his knees and body with pistol butts. The gang also demanded that he hand over another vehicle, a Mahindra Thar.
The victims were eventually abandoned in front of Maradu police station after Ashique’s relatives filed a missing-person complaint at Vellathooval police station in Idukki. The Idukki police then contacted Delbin.
Harbour Police later registered a case under Sections 142 and 312 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
An accused with 15-plus cases
First accused Delbin was subsequently arrested from Vattappara in Thiruvananthapuram and remanded under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA) at Viyyur Central Jail.
However, Dileesh remained on the run. A wanted criminal listed at Panangad police station, he has more than 15 criminal cases against him, including attempted murder, assaults linked to moral policing, NDPS cases involving drug peddling and quotation attacks.
Now in judicial custody after being produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kochi, Dileesh is set to face further questioning.
The police will seek his custody to recover the firearms allegedly used in the kidnapping and to investigate the wider criminal network suspected to have been involved in the operation.
