In a stunning display of modern technology meeting old-school policing, Kozhikode Rural Police have arrested a man accused of murdering his first wife back in 2001, using an AI-enhanced image from a 26-year-old photo to track him down after over two decades on the run. The suspect, 60-year-old Hameed, had reinvented himself as a quiet fish vendor in remote Kasaragod, complete with a new family, far from the suspicions of his past.
The Chilling Crime of 2001
The nightmare unfolded on September 8, 2001, in Edachery, a quiet area under Kozhikode Rural Police limits. Hameed, then a fish vendor himself, allegedly strangled his wife, Ayadatil Jameela, at their home, driven by suspicions of her infidelity. When Jameela lost consciousness, he panicked and called a local doctor, but fled when the doctor insisted on police involvement and a postmortem, which later confirmed strangulation as the cause of death. The couple’s three young children were away from home during the incident, sparing them from the horror. Despite initial investigations and searches in neighboring states, Hameed vanished without a trace in an era before widespread mobile phones or digital surveillance, turning the case into a cold file among long-pending mysteries.
Two Decades of a Double Life
Hameed didn’t just hide he built an entirely new existence. He relocated to Adhur near Bovikkanam in Kasaragod, about 15 km from the nearest town, taking up daily wage jobs before settling into fish vending, peddling his wares house-to-house on a two-wheeler. Within a few years, he remarried a local woman her second marriage claiming his first wife had simply died, without ever disclosing the truth. The couple raised three children: twin daughters, now married, and a younger son who recently moved to the UAE for work. To neighbors and locals, Hameed was just a hardworking, low-profile family man who kept to himself no one suspected the shadow of a 2001 murder hanging over him.
The Game-Changing Breakthrough with AI
Months before the arrest, persistent complaints from Hameed’s children from his first marriage reignited the case, prompting a tech-driven revival. With only a grainy 26-year-old photo in hand, the Edachery police, special squad, intelligence wing, and cyber team collaborated under Kozhikode Rural SP Farash T to enhance it using AI tools for age progression. The digitally aged image was circulated widely, sparking a vital tip-off from Kasaragod about a matching fish vendor. With nothing but an old photograph they uncovered his face crediting technical intelligence for visualizing how Hameed might look today. This mirrors recent Kerala successes, like the 2025 Anchal triple murder solved via AI-aged photos matched to social media, showing a growing trend in cold case revivals.
The Arrest
On Saturday, May 2, 2026, a police team arrived at Hameed’s home during the day, with his wife and daughters present. He appeared shocked but confessed immediately, admitting he always knew the past would catch up. To keep things discreet, local police and neighbors were pre-informed to avoid panic in the rural area. Hameed was taken to Edachery police station, formally arrested, produced before the Vatakara Magistrate Court, and remanded to Vatakara sub-jail for 14 days. Police plan to seek custody for deeper interrogation into his evasion tactics over 25 years.
Justice After 25 Years
This arrest underscores how AI is revolutionizing Kerala policing, breathing life into dusty case files and delivering justice to families like Jameela’s. The first wife’s children, who never visited post-arrest, can now hope for closure, while Hameed’s second family grapples with the revelation. Kozhikode Police’s success highlights the power of blending human grit with cutting-edge tools in tackling Kerala’s unresolved crimes.
Read more at: https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2026/05/03/fish-vendor-quiet-life-with-family-how-kozhikode-cops-tracked-accused-in-2001-murder-case-using-ai-enhanced-pic.html