Kochi: Seventeen years after the murder of an elderly sibling duo here had shocked the state, Kerala police on Monday confirmed that 'Ripper' Jayanandan, a notorious criminal, was the one behind the crime.

The arrest of the man, who has been undergoing punishment in connection with certain other cases, has been recorded in the case of the twin murder in Ponekkara in Edappally here, in which an elderly woman and a man were killed on May 30, 2004, they said.

In the sensational case, the 74-year old woman was raped before being murdered and the 60-year old man was killed brutally and their house was ransacked.

ADGP Sreejith told reporters here that a self-revelation which the accused made to his co-prisoner while staying in the central prison in Thiruvananthapuram last year led to the case being cracked.

Though the police already had doubts regarding his involvement in the murder, based on his modus operandi, there was no evidence to connect him with the case, he said.

After that, the police managed to collect concrete evidence to substantiate his role and thus recorded his arrest earlier this month.

The possibility of DNA profiling would be explored in the case, the officer added.

He had murdered eight persons in six cases during the period between 2003 and 2008.

Jayanandan had been convicted in two murder cases and eight of the 15 burglary cases registered.

He escaped from the jail three times but landed in police custody again.

He is undergoing life imprisonment now as a combined punishment in various cases.