The swanky 7-series BMW car, which Shetty owned, was among the first things the police identified when they started their operation to nab him four months ago.
He loves swanky fast cars, but it is this passion that could have eventually led the police to fugitive gangster Santosh Shetty in Bangkok. The swanky 7-series BMW car, which Shetty owned, was among the first things the police identified when they started their operation to nab him four months ago.
According to sources, the Mumbai police Crime Branch got information about Shetty’s whereabouts in Bangkok in April. “Even though the police knew that Shetty was based in Bangkok, the Mumbai police got proof of his existence there a few months ago and planned to nab him,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Based on the information, the Mumbai police first sent two people to Bangkok in the guise of businessmen, who got in touch with Shetty. “Shetty gave the duo his visiting card, which was in the name of Nick Sharma. This further confirmed that it was Shetty as he had a fake passport issued from Delhi in the same name,” the officer said.
The Crime Branch then contacted the Thailand police and extracted information about Shetty, including the exact location of his residence and details of the four fake passports he was using. Of the four, two were fake Indian passports, while the other two were Danish and Indonesian passports, the police said.
Finally the police zeroed in on Shetty and two police officers from the anti-extortion cell of the Crime Branch went to Bangkok. “Six days before Shetty was brought to Mumbai, the police officers with the help of the Thai police detained Shetty,” the officer said.
However, Shetty tried to exploit a legal loophole to thwart his arrest.
“In a surprise move, Shetty’s girlfriend and another friend filed two separate cases of cheating against him to thwart his deportation to India,” the officer said. As per Thai law an accused can’t be deported until the Thailand police clear the case.
However, the Mumbai police managed to convince the Thai police that the cases filed against Shetty were part of a plan. “Thankfully, the Thai police figured out that the cases were filed as an after-thought and cleared Shetty’s deportation,” the officer said.
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