Santosh Shetty's wife nearly stalled his deportation

Though Mumbai police’s six-month-long efforts to catch gangster Santosh Shetty finally saw them zeroing in on him in Thailand, the last ditch efforts of his second wife to save him almost stalled the investigators’ progress.

According to reliable sources in the police, when the fugitive gangster’s second wife, who is an Indonesian national of Chinese origin, learnt about his detention, she reportedly cooked up a story to prevent his deportation to India.

The sources added that Shetty’s wife reportedly lodged a false complaint with Thai police alleging that her husband had usurped her properties. She demanded that he be tried in Thailand and not be deported.

According to the police sources, it is believed that she was asked to do this.

The sources continued that her complaint against Shetty made the job difficult for the Mumbai police team which had gone there to seek his deportation. The team had to contact its bosses back in India, who, through diplomatic channels, got in touch with the Thai authorities. The sources added that the Thai authorities agreed for the deportation, after they were convinced of the wife’s ploy.

“The India team had to wait for six days to get Shetty’s custody,” said a source. After being handed over, Shetty was escorted to Mumbai on a flight from Bangkok via Kolkatta.