Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 20 (IANS): After facing huge embarrassment, the Kerala Police on Thursday had a reprieve when a case involving a policeman stealing mangoes from a shop was amicably settled and the court allowed the settlement.

The erring policeman has been on the run since the first week of this month after committing the crime, and in-between talks began with the shopkeeper and finally the latter agreed to withdraw the case.

But the local police were not willing as they informed the Kanjirapally Judicial First Class Magistrate Court that it would send a wrong message to the society. The court on Thursday overruled that and allowed for the settlement of the case.

The shopkeeper informed the court that his loss was taken care of and hence he did not have any case.

The case pertains to a policeman, P.V.Shihab, who had stolen a 10kg box of mangoes from a shop near Kanjirapally on September 30. The act was caught on CCTV placed outside the shop. The mangoes were of a costly variety and each kg was priced over Rs 500.

When the shopkeeper came to open his shop, he soon realised that a box of mangoes was missing. He checked his CCTV and was aghast to find a policeman taking the box and driving away.

After the CCTV visual went viral, a probe was done by the local police and the Idukki Superintendent of Police ordered the suspension of the policeman.

After the viral news, Shihab, who is attached to the Idukki Armed Reserve camp police unit, disappeared and till date he remained untraced.