After being on the run for eight years, a real estate agent who cheated an Assamese man of ₹57 lakh was arrested by the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch Unit II on Wednesday.
Sanjay Sutar (37) had allegedly fled from Kharghar in 2011. The victim had relocated to Navi Mumbai from Assam after selling his property for ₹57 lakh. He was looking to purchase a house and a shop, and met Mr. Sutar, a real estate agent in Kharghar. The latter promised to get him a shop and house in ₹57 lakh. The complainant paid him the money, partly in cash and partly by cheque, but Mr. Sutar ran away with the money.
Series of tragedies
A police officer from Kharghar police station said, “After the incident, the complainant lost his parents, who were in extreme shock that the family had lost everything. Later, his wife left him. After a series of such incidents in his life, he lost his mental balance and has been wandering here and there, surviving on the mercy of others.”
Traced to Pen
Navi Mumbai Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar had recently ordered the Crime Branch to look into and close pending cases.
“We started reinvestigating this case and got a tip-off that the accused had relocated to Pen in Raigad district,” assistant police inspector Sharad Dhole from Unit II said. Based on the information, the police nabbed Mr. Sutar, who confessed to the crime.
According to the police, after fleeing Kharghar in 2011, Mr. Sutar went to Solapur and in 2016, shifted to Pen. In September 2018, he suffered a stroke, which paralysed one side of his body. “He manages to walk and can talk as well. He has been remanded in police custody till Saturday. The Kharghar police are investigating further,” Mr. Dhole said.