The Puttur police have arrested a man on the charge of theft of a car, which was hired on rent, after 17 years of the incident.
According to SP Ravikanthe Gowda, the arrested is B M Haneef, a native of Sullia was staying in a rented house at Koodige in Kushalnagar. Another accused Sudheer Prabhu is still at large. It is said that Haneef along with Prabhu had taken a car belonging to Jayanth of Mangaluru on March 8, 2001, and travelled to Sakleshpur and Hassan in the guise of timber merchants.
After travelling to different places in Hassan district, the duo asked the driver to park the car in front of a tourist home at Puttur on March 12, 2001. Later, they stole the car when the driver was away.
Following the incident, a case was registered at Puttur town police station.