Bidar (KTK), Sep 13 (PTI) A 78-year-old man from Maharashtra faces law for a nearly six decade-old case of theft of two buffaloes and a calf which he had stolen from a village in Bidar district of Karnataka.

According to police, the theft dates back to 1965 when the accused Ganapati Vitthal Wagore was 20-year-old. He along with his associate Krishna Chandar had stolen the buffaloes and calf from Mehakar village in Bidar. His co-accused, however, died in 2006 following which the trial against him in the case was closed.

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On the morning of April 8, 1965, Muralidhar Kulkarni, a farmer, released his two buffaloes and a calf to graze on a land near his home in Mehakar village of Bidar district. After a while, he found out that the cattle were stolen by some unknown persons following which he approached the police, a senior police officer said.

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However, two days later, the stolen buffaloes and calf with other animals were found in possession of Wagore and his associate under suspicious circumstances by the Maharashtra police from their native Takalagaon village in Latur district.

Police officials from Maharashtra force arrested the two accused and handed over the Buffaloes and calf to the complainant. Since the crime took place in Karnataka, the case was then transferred by the Maharashtra police to a police station in Bidar district, he added.

Both Wagore and Chandar were then formally arrested by the Karnataka police and sent to judicial custody. Eventually, they came out on bail but did not turn up for the trial following which the court issued non bailable warrants against the two and later on, an open warrant was issued against the accused.

Over the years, the police in Bidar district tried to trace the two absconding men and later, they learnt that one of the accused, Chandar passed away in 2006 following which they produced his death certificate in the court and the trial against him was closed. However, they failed to gather information about the other accused in the case, he said.

In a bid to track down the long pending cases, the police traced all the old cases and started working on them. A special team was also formed by Superintendent of Police (Bidar) Chennabasavanna Langoti to crack the long pending cases in his district.

Based on a tip off from an old woman and with the help of technical surveillance, the special team managed to trace accused Wagore to a village in Nanded district of Maharashtra on September 8 this year and he was produced in a court here in Bidar the next day.

He was granted bail by the court considering his age, but he will have to appear once again for the hearing, they said.

The complainant in the case is also no longer alive, police said.

Bidar SP Chennabasavanna Langoti said on Wednesday: "We had been tracing all the long pending cases in our district and we came across this 1965 theft case of two buffaloes and a calf. Our team managed to trace the accused and produced him before the court here. He has also been granted bail in the case by the court considering his age. This is perhaps the longest ever case in the district and the law will take its own course."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)