3 years after escape to Dubai, Shirdi visit lands rape suspect in custody

A fugitive suspect was caught after he visited the Maharashtra holy town of Shirdi with his wife, more than three years since a woman in Jaipur accused him of rape and he disappeared.

Police said Sanjay Mulchandani of Jaipur had escaped to Dubai in 2013, married an Indian woman there and eventually became a well-known businessman.

But his desire to visit the Sai Baba temple in Shirdi with his wife finally landed him in custody. He was arrested near Agra on Tuesday evening by a Jaipur police team, which was on his trail from Nagpur in Maharashtra.

“A Jaipur woman alleged in April 2013 that Mulchandani, who used to live at Nahri ka Naka, had raped her. A case was registered against him. But after an arrest warrant was issued, Mulchandani escaped to Dubai,” said Sunil Prasad Sharma, the SHO of Sodala police station.

“He married there and established a successful business. We have learnt that he has highly-placed contacts in Dubai.”

The officer said the Jaipur sessions court had issued an “absconding” warrant against him in 2014.

Mulchandani was convinced that he had evaded arrest for long and no one remembered his case now.

Little did he know that officers of Sodala police station were keeping a close watch on his parents and relatives in Jaipur. Their tenacity paid off when they received information a few days ago that that the fugitive might visit India with his wife.

“After checking call records of his family, our suspicion was confirmed. We noticed that the family frequently made calls to a mobile number in Dubai. After screening the international mobile station equipment identity (IMEI) number, we noticed that it was recently switched off in Dubai and restarted in India, some three days ago,” Sharma said.

It became all too easy after that as police found from the mobile location that Mulchandani was in Shirdi. His wife’s parents apparently live in Nagpur.

Sharma said a trap was laid at Nagpur airport but somehow he got wind of police tracking his movements and escaped.

“We had information that he was trying to leave for Dubai and arranged tickets for flights from three separate airports, Nagpur, New Delhi and Jaipur. We placed our men in all these airports while a team trailed him from Nagpur,” Sharma said.

Mulchandani was finally caught near Agra and brought to Jaipur. His wife was with him.

“He was in police remand for two days and kept at Sodala police station. Medical and potency tests of were done on Wednesday morning,” the SHO said.