Mumbai: Diamond scamster arrested after 23 years run

MUMBAI: A man who fled away and remained elusive for 23 years to skip one year detention under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities act (COFEPOSA), was arrested by the city crime branch on late Wednesday.
Crime branch unit 1 of Mumbai police arrested Harish Kalyandas Bhawsar alias Paresh Zaveri (55) from a rented flat in South Mumbai. Zaveri is among a long list of absconders which the crime branch is looking for.
Inspector Vinayak Meher said that in 1997 the Enforcement Directorate probing a Rs 130 crore diamond import scam. Police said that Zaveri and his brother through their company Sharma Diamonds had imported diamonds from Singapore and evaded the duty of Rs 130 crores.
The ED had seized his and his brother’s properties in Bhulabhai Desai Road under the COFEPOSA and ordered their detention for one year.
"While Zaveri’s elder brother surrender, Zaveri fled away and kept shuttling from Mumbai and Delhi. We got a tip off that he was staying in a rented flat which we raided yesterday and arrested him,"said Meher.
Police said that he has been handed over to the preventive branch which will sent him to jail authorities on Friday.