Identified through gold teeth, Mumbai Police nabs fugitive on run for 15 years

The police found after asking fugitive's associates that he was hiding in Katch's Sabhrai village.

A 38-year-old man has been arrested by Mumbai Police almost 15 years after he was on the run. According to a police official, the fugitive has been identified through his gold-plated teeth. He has been living in Gujarat's Kutch to avoid getting caught.

The fugitive was identified as Pravin Ashubha Jadeja aka Pravin Singh aka Pradeep Singh Ashubha Jadeja. (ANI)

"He has been identified as Pravin Ashubha Jadeja aka Pravin Singh aka Pradeep Singh Ashubha Jadeja…and was charged with cheating and misleading the police. Although after a few days of arrest, the accused got bail from the court. Later, after the hearing, the accused absconded from Mumbai and didn't appear in court again. Hence the court declared him a fugitive," the official said.

The man was working as a cloth salesman in a shop in 2007. He allegedly misled the shop owner and police by informing them that the money he was supposed to collect from a merchant was a stolen. "Pravin misled the police and the owner by telling them that someone has stolen his bag full of money from the toilet," the official said.

The police later found in the probe that Pravin kept the money with him. "The accused was arrested but he absconded after getting bail from the court," the police said.

The search investigation started again and upon asking Pravin's associates, the police found that he was hiding in Katch's Sabhrai village. “The police acted as LIC agents and called Pravin to Mumbai. After confirmation, the accused was arrested,” the official added.

(With ANI inputs)