mumbai

Updated: Dec 27, 2017 15:44 IST

A 54-year-old man, who was allegedly evading capture for 15 years after being accused in a Rs one-lakh cheating case, was arrested after he was found hiding in a washing machine in his apartment in Mumbai on Monday.

For three hours, the man’s wife allegedly stalled police officials who had come looking for him at the couple’s three-bedroom apartment in western Mumbai’s Juhu. When the officials finally convinced the woman to let them in, they still couldn’t find the accused. The police were about to give up when they pulled a cloth from a washing machine and found him hiding.

Vasant Wakhare, senior police inspector at the Azad Maidan police station, said a court had declared the accused as an absconder in a 2002 cheating case. He had allegedly cheated three people of Rs 1 lakh on the pretext of getting them admissions in a Bachelor of Education course. “The accused is also wanted in a Rs one-crore cheating case in Pune,” said Wakahre.

Wakhare said the police team had gone looking for the man after Mumbai police commissioner recently ordered that persons who are absconding after being accused of crimes be traced. The police have also lodged a complaint against his wife for obstructing a government official from doing his duty.