khoji parkCrime · Kannur, Kerala · 2018–2026
The CCTV Resemblance That Cost a Father His Freedom
The return home would last far longer than the leave he had arranged.
Read in slides1. Home for a family wedding
V. K. Thajudheen returned from Qatar to Kerala in 2018 for his daughter’s wedding. He expected a short visit before resuming work abroad. Instead, police investigating a chain-snatching case focused on him because a man in CCTV footage appeared similar, turning a family occasion into the beginning of a prolonged struggle over mistaken identity.
The return home would last far longer than the leave he had arranged.
2. The image becomes an accusation
Police treated the resemblance to the rider in the chain-snatching footage as grounds for pursuing Thajudheen. The crime occurred in Kerala, not at Doha airport. His case therefore should not be retold under a more dramatic foreign-airport setting, because moving the incident changes both the alleged offence and the institutions responsible for the wrongful arrest.
The camera had recorded a man, but not established that it was him.
3. Evidence that did not fit
Thajudheen and his family pointed to differences in appearance and evidence about his movements. Later reporting on the court’s findings described phone records and other indications that should have prompted closer checking. The problem was not simply that an image was imperfect; it was that investigators treated resemblance as certainty while failing to adequately test information inconsistent with their assumption.
The strongest question was why the mismatches were not being treated as questions.
4. Fifty-four days
Thajudheen spent fifty-four days in custody in Kerala. The arrest and public treatment damaged his reputation as well as his immediate freedom, with consequences reaching the family he had travelled home to support. A mistaken identification therefore became more than a brief administrative error: it disrupted relationships, health and the ability to maintain a livelihood.
The time in custody kept accumulating after the original mistake.
5. The job abroad is lost
Because he could not return to Qatar on schedule, the consequences extended beyond the Indian case. Reporting describes further detention on returning abroad and the loss of his work and business. Those events belong to the aftermath of the Kerala arrest, rather than evidence that an airport CCTV incident had originally caused the investigation.
The first detention had started a second chain of losses.
6. The court orders compensation
The Kerala High Court held the state responsible for the wrongful arrest and harm to the family. An order delivered in October 2025 and reported publicly in January 2026 awarded fourteen lakh rupees in total compensation, including amounts for family members. The award acknowledged violations of personal liberty, while leaving the family free to pursue further legal remedies.
Recognition arrived years after the police had acted as though identity was settled.
7. A face is not a complete case
Thajudheen’s story concerns the need to test identification against other evidence and the damage caused when officials refuse to reconsider. Compensation cannot recreate the wedding visit or restore every lost opportunity. The documented reversal is an accusation built on resemblance eventually becoming a judicial finding about the state’s responsibility for the harm that followed.
The image looked familiar. The consequences belonged to the wrong man.