Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi

Udupi, Mar 6: The Udupi city police have successfully apprehended a long-absconding accused who had been evading arrest for the past 15 years. The individual, wanted in over 10 cases of fraud, was tracked down and arrested in Bengaluru.

The arrested person has been identified as Vigneshwara Aithal (56), a resident of Kumbhashi in Kundapur taluk.

Case background

Vigneshwara Aithal faced approximately 10 different cases, including several charges of fraud, registered at the Udupi city police station in 2011. Following the registration of these cases, he failed to appear before the court and went into hiding. Over the last decade and a half, the court had issued more than 10 warrants against him and eventually declared him a proclaimed offender.

Acting on specific intelligence and under the guidance of Udupi city station inspector-in-charge Mahesh Prasad, a special team was formed. The team, led by PSI Bharatesh Kankanawadi and comprising personnel Prasanna C, Ramesh, and Anand, conducted a coordinated operation in Bengaluru.

The police tracked the accused to a rented house in RK Mutt Layout, Thalaghattapura, where he had been residing to avoid detection. He was apprehended on March 5 and subsequently brought to Udupi.

Following his arrest, Aithal was produced before the court on Friday, March 6. The court has remanded the accused to judicial custody. Local authorities have lauded the persistence of the police team in closing a decade-old case involving multiple counts of financial deception.