After 13 years, tattoo leads cops to thief who kept changing names

According to the police, the 36-year-old was lodged in Taloja jail after the Navi Mumbai police arrested him in a different case. However, as the accused gave different names to various police stations, it made it difficult for the police to trace him.

An accused wanted in a robbery case, was arrested on Thursday after the police identified him through a tattoo on his hand, which read “Vinod-Vaishali.” He was on the run for 10 years.

The accused is identified as Vinod Jugalkishore Vaishnav. His tattoo reads “Vinod-Vaishali.” As per the police, Vaishnav was involved in 13 cases of robberies and thefts in Byculla, Vikhroli, and Dadar. (HT PHOTO)

The accused is identified as Vinod Jugalkishore Vaishnav. According to the police, the 36-year-old was lodged in Taloja jail after the Navi Mumbai police arrested him in a different case. However, as the accused gave different names to various police stations, it made it difficult for the police to trace him.

“He jumped bail and was untraceable for the last 13 years and had stopped attending court hearings. Then, a Metropolitan Magistrate court in Dadar had declared him a proclaimed offender,” said Kumud Kadam, senior police inspector, RAK Marg police station.

In 2019, Vaishnav allegedly stole a motorcycle and committed other robberies. The case was registered in the RAK Marg police station.

“Our teams visited his Worli, Saki-Naka, Titwala and Nagpur residences. He kept changing addresses and we did not find anything that could lead to him. We neither had his photo, we only knew that he had a tattoo on his hand,” said Mahesh Lamkhede, assistant police inspector, RAK Marg police station.

He added that in one of the routine visits, they were told about a residence in Saki-Naka that could give some information about Vaishnav.

There, the police team met a woman who told them that Vaishnav was lodged in Taloja jail after being arrested and was even booked under MCOCA.

However, when we checked the Taloja jail records we found no person with the name lodged there.

“Later, we decided to visit the jail and check about the information. When we went to the Taloja jail, we found a man identified as Vinod Kishore Vaishnav lodged in it,” said Lamkhede. “When we checked details about him, we saw his native place as Nagpur which matched with the accused that we were looking for. So, we decided to summon him before us.”

When Vaishnav was called the officers immediately were able to identify him due to the tattoo. “Neither had we seen him as the case was old nor we had his photo but a tattoo on his right hand helped us identify him,” he added.

He will be produced before the Dadar Court, said Lamkhede. On Friday, the police got permission to take him into custody.

As per the police, Vaishnav was involved in 13 cases of robberies and thefts in Byculla, Vikhroli, and Dadar.