Afive-month manhunt in Navi Mumbai led to the arrest of five people accused of impersonating dead owners. As per the police, the five accused, led by mastermind Suraj Vasudev Shinde, faked their identities to carry out a land fraud of ₹2.29 crores.
As reported by HT earlier, the accused allegedly targeted a plot in Karanjade belonging to brothers Nathan Eliyahu Chincholkar and Shalom (Selim) Eliyahu Chincholkar, who had migrated to Israel and later died in the country.
Fake documents, new phone numbers
As per police, Shinde got his father and brother-in-law to impersonate the dead brothers by using fake identity documents.
Using these fake documents, Shinde and his accomplices managed to execute the sale of the plot for ₹2.29 crores.
Police added that the arrests came after a five-month manhunt for the accused as they kept changing their phone numbers, identities and hideouts to evade the police.
Shinde had lived in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh while trying to evade arrest. As per officials, Shinde fled with his relatives who were also involved in the scam.
Accused tracked using intelligence inputs
Suraj Shinde was tracked to Thivim in Goa, where he was arrested with his uncle, Satish Namdev Shinde, 41, and cousin, Tejas Pramod Surve, 26, using technical surveillance and intelligence inputs.
Police added that Manish More was arrested by Mapusa police in an unrelated theft case and was lodged in Colvale Central Jail, and Vasudev Shinde was arrested from Dombivli on July 27.
Following their arrest, police also recovered the forged PAN and Aadhaar Cards in the names of the deceased landowners.