Vijay Palande’s escape plan was almost perfect. Catch a flight to Thailand as it has visa on arrival and join the Vijay Shetty gang there. But, he did not account for was that the police were hot on his heels.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Twelve hours after Palande, the main suspect in the murder of 65-year-old Arun Tikku from Oshiwara, escaped from police custody, he was arrested from Churchgate station.

Palande, Dhananjay Shinde and Manoj Gajkosh were arrested for the killing of the Delhi-based businessman on April 7.

The police claimed that during interrogation, Palande revealed that he was planning to flee to Thailand on Tuesday night and join Vijay Shetty’s gang there. Palande had come in contact with Shetty during his business trips to Bangkok, the official said. Palande, the police claimed, changed his clothes and called up a relative to meet him at the international airport with his passport and money.

Explaining the sequence of events a crime branch officer said: “Gajkosh and Palande were in a Scorpio with four crime branch personnel, including a police inspector. They were headed towards the Telli Gully unit of the crime branch in Andheri (East). At 8pm, when the vehicle approached Old Nagardas Road, they got stuck in traffic.”

“Our men were probably slacking and taking advantage of the situation, Palande opened the rear door of the jeep and escaped. Four units of the crime branch were sent out to trace Palande,” the officer added.

The officer claimed that Palande first met a friend and changed his clothes to avoid identification. “He then called a relative from a PCO and told him to wait for his next call and then meet him at the international airport with his passport and money. This relative probably didn’t know that Palande was an accused in a murder case and had fled from police custody.”

“After changing his clothes, Palande went to Andheri railway station and boarded a train to Churchgate. We caught him at 12.30am at Churchgate station,” said additional commissioner of police, crime, Deven Bharti.

“Palande went to Churchgate assuming that the police would concentrate on looking for him in the suburbs. He was waiting to board the last suburban train to Andheri, then catch a flight to Thailand. At 2am, we gave his custody to the Oshiwara police,” said Bharti.