Ferozepur: A proclaimed offender was today arrested in a 24 year old murder case in which eight members of two families were killed over a land dispute.

SSP Ferozepur Pritam Singh said a case was registered in connection with the killing of eight members of two families including Sukhwant Singh, his wife Piar Kaur, daughters Gurjit Kaur and Gogi and Bhupinder Singh, his wife Joginder Kaur and sons Harjinder Singh and Bhupinder Singh in which Malook alongwith two others was awarded death sentence which was later converted into life sentence by Supreme Court in 2001.

The SSP said that Malook was released on parole in 2009 however he did not returned back and resumed his criminal activities.

He said that Malook along with his accomplices robbed Rs 12.45 lakh from a bank following which a case was registered at Zira police station on May 20, 2011.

However, the police could not track down Malook all these years and he was eventually declared Proclaimed Offender (PO).

"Malook was eluding police for the last several years, however we have finally arrested him yesterday" said the SSP.

He said besides these two cases, Malook was involved in several other criminal cases in Dharamkot and Makhu police stations.

"He was also declared PO in two other cases lodged in Gurdaspur and Amritsar (Rural) districts" said SSP alleging the accused's his brother was associated with extremist organizations.  PTI