For a father, this must been a tough call to take. But Borivali resident Narendra Patel did take it and called up the police to inform them that his son, a rape accused who had fled from police custody, was coming home to meet him.

The 23-year-old former Air India employee Raj Patel, who gave cops the slip on Saturday, was re-arrested as he was slipping into his building in the wee hours of Sunday.

Raj escaped from police custody outside Nagpada police hospital around 5pm where had been taken for a medical examination.

The police said that Raj, a former cabin crew member, told them during interrogation that after escaping, he boarded a train for Pune from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. On reaching Pune, he was unsure of what to do next. Around 10pm, Raj called up his father from a public telephone outside the station and told him that he had escaped and was in Pune.

“Raj told his father that he would come home in the dead of night to meet his parents,” said inspector Sudhakar Kamble of Nagpada police station, adding that his father readily agreed.

Conscientious and unwilling to get his son or anyone in the family into trouble with the law, the father informed the police of his son’s impending visit.

A team from Borivali and Nagpada police stations quickly swung into action and set up a trap for Raj outside the building. Raj was arrested when he reached the building around 3.30am.

“He has now been arrested under section 224 of the Indian Penal Code which allows for arrest of a person who resists his lawful apprehension,” said Kamble.

Raj had been accused of raping a 21-year-old woman by promising to marry her. He allegedly also forced her to have unnatural sex besides forcing her to undergo an abortion, according to a complaint lodged by the woman.