Ganglord Santosh Shetty would have never imagined that his most trusted aide’s disclosures to the crime branch would have led to his deportation.
Bangkok-based Shetty’s aide Bhadresh Shah spilled the beans regarding Shetty’s whereabouts in February.
Shah was arrested by the crime branch while he was coming from Bangkok in February. “Shah’s association with Shetty goes back to the early nineties, when Shah ran into major business losses,” said a senior crime branch official, adding “Bhadresh Shah and Santosh Shetty’s fathers were friends. So, Santosh’s father told Bhadresh’s father that his son was based in Dubai and convinced him to send Bhadresh also there.”
Bhadresh then went to Dubai and met Santosh and it was from here that their association began.
Bhardesh then came back to Mumbai and later even Santosh returned to the city. Santosh was then arrested and booked for a narcotic case. During this period Bhadresh used to help Santosh with his case.
“However after jumping parole, Santosh fled to Bangkok and for some years Bhadresh lost touch with him. Then around 2002, Bhadresh got in touch with Santosh and told him to come to Bangkok,” said the official. Bhadresh, according to the crime branch began actively participating in Santosh’s extortion racket. Bhadresh would identify victims and give Santosh the details. Santosh would then proceed to demand a ransom from that person,” said another well-placed source in the crime branch.
In 2009, Bhadresh went to Rajasthan, kidnapped the son of a marble dealer, even took the victim to Bangkok. Once there, Santosh demanded a ransom of `5 crores from the marble dealer. “The marble dealer apparently paid `1 crore and his son was let-off. The Mumbai crime branch was investigating the case as Bhadresh was the one who had flown along with the victim from Mumbai to Bangkok,” said the source.
Then in February 2011, Bhadresh was arrested by the crime branch from the Mumbai airport, while he was returning from Bangkok.