Jun 22 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai) Couples conned by 'friend' of their kids living abroad Ahmed Ali Mumbai:   50-Year-Old Held For Duping Senior Citizens Police have arrested a 50-year-old former diamond merchant who duped senior citizens pretending to be a friend of their children living abroad.With the arrest of Sunil Pujara, Matunga police claim to have solved five offences committed in the past six months. They recovered USD 400, 90 grams gold and 1.5 kg silver from him, besides a receipt of a fivestar hotel in BKC where the daily room rent is Rs 14,000. Matunga police had earlier arrested Pujara exactly on the same date, June 16, in 2005 for a similar offence. During interrogation, he allegedly said he used to spend the money on lavish lifestyle and gambling in casinos of Goa. Explaining his modus operandi, police said Pujara would walk into posh buildings, befriend the guard and collect details about elderly couples living alone. “In one case, he knocked on the door of one Hemraj Shah and introduced himself as Jayesh Patel. Pujara claimed to be a friend of Shah's US-based son and that he was in India on holiday ,“ said Balasaheb Kakad, senior inspector of Matunga police station. “To win their confidence, he would even tell names and other details of their family members. Later, Pujara would say he had bought a flat nearby and needed gold ornaments to keep it for the house warming ceremony .“ N Ambika, DCP (Zone 4), said, “Once they hand him over a few ornaments, he would disappear.“ Police said Pujara was caught on CCTV camera of a building near Matunga station where he conned a senior citizen. They immediately flashed his photo all over Matunga. “On June 16, a local resident alerted me that a person with similar features was moving around near LN Road.When we rushed to the spot, we found him doing recce of a new target. We detained him,“ said ACP Deepak Katkade. Ambika said Antop hill police and Wadala police have approached them as there were a few similar cases and they suspect his involvement. Police have also issued advisory to senior citizens and sensitised security guards of the residential complexes not to entertain strangers.  Click To Enlarge    

Jun 28 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

Gangster wanted in 1990 MLA murder brought back to city

Mumbai
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


Gangster Kumar Pillai, wanted for the murder of an MLA in 1990, arrived at the city airport from Singapore by Air India flight 343 at 10.20 pm.Pillai, who was escorted by the police, was whisked away to the police headquarters.
Sources in the police said he is likely to be booked under MCOCA and produced in the Esplanade court on Tuesday .

Pillai, who had fled the country in the mid-1990s, was detained by the Singapore police in January .

The city police, who had kept tabs on Pillai for a month through their network of informants, had alerted the Singaporean authorities about Pillai's address in Singapore from where he was detained in the presence of his wife in January . He ran an import-export business in Singapore, said police sources. A textile engineer, Pillai had allegedly killed MLA Lal Singh Chavan in 1990, to “avenge his father's murder“. His father was killed as he had refused to sell his club to a politician, said sources.

Pillai is also accused of having planned the murder of the owner of Byculla's Khatau mill, Sunil Khatau, in 1994.

Jun 29 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

Cops carried mom's DNA samples to get gangster extradited

Ahmed Ali
Mumbai:


Deal Was Done Despite Absence Of Treaty
The city crime branch had carried along with them copies of first information reports, statements of complainants and witnesses, fingerprints, old photographs, court documents and DNA samples of his old mother to present their case before the Singapore authorities against fugitive gangster Kumar Pillai, who was extradited to India late on Monday night.
Sources said Pillai had procured Hong Kong nationality. “We are grateful to the Singapore authorities, who after verifying our documents, were very helpful in extraditing Pillai, though there is no official treaty. It was an arrangement,“ said a senior officer.

The top cops were surprised as a top lawyer represented Pillai and argued that he was not the person the Mumbai Police were looking for.

Kumar, originally an engineer, had procured a Chinese passport with his name as Krishnan Kumar Pillai, though his real name is Kumar Krushna Pillai. His lawyer furnished business documents to show he was one of the top mobile phone and accessories dealers in Hong Kong, besides documents showing he was Hong Kong citizen paying the highest taxes to the government.The police said that immediately after Pillai's news was flashed, his mother flew down to Singapore and met him.

“We furnished details from the voters' list of him and his wife Kalpana. His lawyer then fumbled. It was the turning point in the case,“ said deputy commissio ner of police Dhananjay Kulkarni.

During preliminary interrogation, he said he fled India in 1997, after killing his father's killer, Lalsingh Chavan, and then settled in China. He said he then called his wife to China, where their daughter was born. The daughter, the police said, is now 18, studying in Singapore. Sources said that through the extortion syndicate he established his mobile business in China, and now it was worth nearly Rs 100 crore. “Pillai had bought few commercial properties in Hong Kong and Singapore.The police said though Pillai was on the run, he controlled the school run by his mother in Vikhroli.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and ministry of external affairs had got gangster Abu Salem extradited from Portugal in 2005.

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