Twenty one years after four nuns were raped by 26 persons in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, a 45-year-old absconding accused in the case has been nabbed, police said on March 5.

Kalu Limji was arrested from Aamba village in the district the previous day, a police official said.

In September 1998, the accused, mostly tribals, raped the nuns at the Priti Sharan Mission at Naupara village in the predominantly tribal district. Nauapara is 25 km from the district head-quarters.

Of the 26 accused, 24 were arrested immediately after the incident, police said. Nine were awarded life imprisonment by a local court, while 13 others were acquitted.

Limji was one of the two accused absconding. He “was arrested at Aamba village under Kalidevi police station after a tip-off,” Jhabua district Superintendent of Police Vineet Jain told reporters.

Limji earlier worked as a labourer in neighbouring Gujarat, the police official said.