Thief's gender bender to skirt law

Indore: In 2008, Alok Shrivastav escaped from the law after being involved in a theft. Eight years later, when the law finally caught up with him on Friday, he had become Palak. Not only name, Alok had even 'changed' his gender to avoid the arrest.
Tukoganj police nabbed Alok, now Palak, from Nandlalpura area where he was living with a group of eunuchs under his new female identity.Alok had even changed his physical appearance and was found to be wearing a salwar suit. The cops caught him while he was busy in his daily chores. "We were looking for him for the last eight years. We had gone to his home in Pushp Nagar in Banganga area a number of times but his parents always denied that they had any knowledge of his whereabouts," said Dilip Choudhari, Tukoganj police station in-charge.
The police said that 33-year old Alok had undergone a gender reassignment surgery to avoid arrest. The eunuch community in the city, however, refuted the police claim and said that Alok had always been a transgender.
After Alok's arrest on Friday, his parents confessed that they knew their son was living with eunuchs. "They said they were scared to open up in front of us due to social stigma. Later, they said they knew Alok had joined the eunuchs and had started living in Nandlalpura area," said Choudhari. Alok was later sent to jail.
Plastic surgeon Dr G L Jakhetia said that there was no way cops could find out whether the man was really a eunuch or not . "There has to be a physical examination by a doctor to know whether the man is really a eunuch. There is a possibility that he must have got his private parts castrated by a local doctor as a proper surgical removal and transformation into a woman could have cost him at least Rs 2-3 lakh."