58 years ago, Ganapati Vitthal Wagore was 20 years old when he and another man were arrested for alleged theft.

After being released on bail, they disappeared and could not be found. In 2006, his co-accused passed away.

After his re-arrest last week, Wagore was released on bail due to his age.

When a team of police looked through old files of pending investigations, the case resurfaced a few weeks ago and a final attempt was made to find the suspects.

Karnataka’s Bidar district was the scene of the theft. Wagore was caught in different villages in neighbouring Maharashtra in both cases.

A local court granted conditional bail to Wagore and Krishna Chander in 1965 after they admitted stealing the animals.

The two men stopped responding to summonses and warrants after their release.

Teams of police from Bidar searched villages in Karnataka and Maharashtra, but the two men, who were agricultural labourers, could not be found. Last month, the case was reopened. Police chief Chennabasavanna Langoti told Hindi that his colleagues began investigating Umarga village residents. In 1965, Wagore was arrested in Umarga, Maharashtra.

The police then found an elderly woman who they thought might remember the incident. Innocently, she told my colleagues that he [Wagore] was alive,” Mr Langoti said.