68-year-old arrested after being on the run for 27 years

The police said in 1995 they had registered a case for cheating and forgery against Sanghavi on the complaint of one Rajeev Khandelwal. The police said he had promised Khandelwal shares of various companies, then valued around ₹20 lakh and cheated him by giving forged share transfer certificates.

MUMBAI: The DB Marg police on Tuesday arrested a 68-year-old man who was on the run for the past 27 years.

68-year-old arrested after being on the run for 27 years

According to the police, they got details of the accused from the voters list and later posed as Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) employees to nab the accused, who had forgotten about the police case against him and was surprised when the cops nabbed him.

The accused is identified as Virendra Sanghavi aka Mahesh Shah, 68, a resident of Dana Bunder in Masjid.

The police said in 1995 they had registered a case for cheating and forgery against Sanghavi on the complaint of one Rajeev Khandelwal. The police said he had promised Khandelwal shares of various companies, then valued around ₹20 lakh and cheated him by giving forged share transfer certificates.

He was arrested in the case, but later jumped bail in 1996 and since then was on the run.

A chargesheet was already filed in the case, however, Sanghavi never appeared before the court and therefore the Girgaum court had declared him a ‘proclaimed offender’ after issuing several bailable and non-bailable warrants against him did not yield positive results.

The police said the accused could not be found as he had changed his address in Chembur and Sion and shifted to some other address.

Teams of DB Marg police tried to find him but did not get any fruitful information about his whereabouts.

“Through voters list, we recently through found his mobile number. We checked his details and learnt after studying his mobile that he got messages from a particular bank,” said Pandurang Sanas, police inspector of D B Marg police station.

The cops then visited the bank and found out his latest address.

“We visited his address in Dana Bunder but found he was not staying at his that home as well. We then posed as BEST employees and told him that we had come to verify light bill. However, he didn’t turn up,” said Sanas.

Sanas said finally they called him and told him if he didn’t come for verification with documents, they will disconnect electricity supply to his house.

“Finally, he turned up we didn’t have his photo as it’s an old case. Through the complainant we verified him and arrested him,” said Sanas.

Sanas said the accused will be produced before the Girgaum metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday.