Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
2 gold teeth help cops nab wanted accused
MUMBAI: Two gold teeth implants helped the police trace a 38-year-old man, wanted in a cheating case, 15 years after he jumped bail. The cops posed as LIC officers to get hold of the accused.
The police said the only information available about the man was his full name and that he had two gold teeth implants.
According to the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai (RAK) Marg police the man, identified as Pravin Ashuba Jadeja, was working with a cloth merchant, A H Bangar, in Hindmata of Dadar East.
“In 2007, he went for collection from other cloth merchants and took ₹40,000 from them. Later, he cooked up a story that he was robbed of the amount. However, during investigation it was found that he had taken the money,” Pravin Munde, deputy commissioner of police, Zone IV, said. Subsequently, Jadeja was arrested and booked for criminal breach of trust.
“After getting out on bail, Jadeja left his house on B A road in Dadar East and never attended the court again. The Dadar Metropolitan Magistrate court that was hearing the case initially issued warrants against him and later declared him a proclaimed offender,” Mahesh Lamkhede, assistant police inspector, said.
“The identification mark mentioned in his old arrest register was his gold implants,” Lamkhede
said and added “We could not find much about him and then decided to visit some places in Gujarat especially Kutch and Saurashtra districts.”
“Later, another person who had worked with him told the police that Jadeja was in Mandavi district. Through Unique Identification Authority of India, the police shortlisted all residents having similar names and matching age and traced one Pradeep Singh Jadeja, a vegetable wholesaler in Shaabrai village, who matched the description of the wanted accused. He too had two gold implants,” the assistant police inspector said.
“We got his mobile phone number and posed as LIC officers. We told him hat his policy had matured and needed his signature to process the payment. When he came to sign the documents, we apprehended him. We verified him by the gold teeth and also sent his picture to his former employer, who confirmed that it was Pravin Jadeja who had assumed a new name,” Kumud Kadam, senior police inspector, said. Jadeda was arrested on Thursday. He will be produced in a court on Saturday.