Absconding fraudster inserts new SIM in phone, gets caught

KOCHI:  The manager of a hotel at Padamugal in Kakkanad cheated its owner of Rs 20 lakh and fled Kochi to another state after switching his mobile phone off. However, his luck ran out when he inserted a new SIM card in his mobile phone. The police team which launched an investigation with the help of the cyber cell tracked the phone location and arrested him. 

Sreenesh, 40, a resident of Kannankara in Kozhikode, was residing in a flat at Padamugal. He went into hiding after the hotel owner lodged a complaint with the police last month. The investigation did not make much headway as he switched his phone off. However, with the help of the cyber cell, the police tracked his e-mail ID and found his location in Maharashtra. 

Meanwhile, Sreenesh bought a new SIM card and when he inserted it in his phone, the police traced his location at Lavasa, a tourist centre which is 150km away from Pune. The sleuths arrested him from Lavasa, where he was working as a manager at a canteen, on Sunday. 

The police said Sreenesh had been working as the manager of the hotel at Padamugal since 2018. He allegedly diverted funds set aside to purchase goods, withdrew money using the owner’s cheque, and withheld other employees’ salaries and siphoned off the amount. 

“He was involved in a murder case registered at Kalasipalaya in Bengaluru. We have handed over a report of his whereabouts to Bengaluru city police,” said R Shabu, Thrikkakara SHO, who headed the special team that arrested Sreenesh. 

Sreenesh is accused of murdering his girlfriend in Bengaluru in 2012. Though he had escaped to Singapore, the Bengaluru city police arrested him in 2014. He later got bail in the murder case. The trial is pending before the court.