Airport police nabs absconding fraudster

The airport police has nabbed absconding Jet Airways engineer Sudeep Subrata Ghosh (33), who was wanted for almost from two months in connection with a cheating case.

According to airport sources, Ghosh had borrowed almost Rs 55 lakh from his colleagues, which he failed to return. In this connection, an FIR was lodged at the domestic airport police station in the last week of May. Since then, the police had been searching for Ghosh, and, to trace him officials, had put his mobile number on surveillance. He finally was arrested at Vakola junction in the western suburbs on the evening of Tuesday, police sources said.

Sources said that Ghosh called a victim of the cheating case for a settlement, and later the victim informed the police about the call. Officials then laid a trap in Vakola and arrested Ghosh. Later, he was produced in court on Wednesday and the court remanded him in police custody.

According to the police sources, Ghosh has not been cooperating in the investigation and none of the money has been recovered from him so far. The police also suspects that he (Ghosh) had cheated almost eight other people of over Rs 1 crore. Earlier, when the FIR was lodged in the police station, officials got statement from three employees of the airline who told the police that Ghosh had lured his colleagues, promising Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (Mhada) flat, claiming that his uncle was the director of Mhada. He also showed the complainants an underconstruction Mhada building and later, when the complainants demanded the flat, he started avoiding them and later escaped from the city.

According to sources, during this period, Ghosh was hiding in Kolkata, where his parents stay. Police inspector Imran Shaikh, who is investigating the case, received information of Ghosh’s Mumbai arrival and following the tip he arrested the accused, said a senior official from the airport police station.

The official said Ghosh told the police that all the money he received from the fraud had been spent on maintaining his lavish lifestyle and on his girlfriend’s needs. Now, the police is trying to identify other people whom Ghosh had cheated.