In a major breakthrough, the Kasturba Marg Police have arrested a wanted builder father–son duo involved in multiple multi-crore fraud cases. The accused have been identified as Mihir Ashok Jethwa and his father, Ashok Arvind Jethwa. Both had been absconding for the past two years after several cheating cases were registered against them. They were finally traced and arrested from Kerala.
According to police officials, the Jethwas are known white-collar offenders with more than ten criminal cases of cheating registered against them across various police stations. Investigations have revealed that they defrauded several ordinary citizens of crores of rupees by promising lucrative investment returns and affordable housing.
The accused, who run a construction firm named Triveni Developers, had launched multiple building projects at different locations. They allegedly coaxed several people into investing large sums in their company by assuring high returns and, in some cases, offering discounted flats in their upcoming projects. Trusting their promises, many individuals invested crores of rupees.
One of the complainants, Navinchandra Gordhandas Bharkhada, a resident of Borivali, invested ₹1.17 crore between March 31, 2019, and March 31, 2020. He was assured either attractive interest on the investment or allocation of a flat. However, the accused neither repaid the principal amount with interest nor provided the flat. Instead, they misappropriated the funds and absconded.
Following Bharkhada’s complaint, the Kasturba Marg Police registered a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust against Mihir and Ashok Jethwa. Subsequent investigation revealed that many others had been similarly duped by the duo. Several police stations had already registered related cases against them.
Since the registration of these offences, the accused had been on the run. For the past two years, police teams had been searching for them across Maharashtra, Daman, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, and Karnataka. Each time, the duo managed to evade arrest. However, the police continued the pursuit.
Recently, police received intelligence that the Jethwas were hiding in Kerala under fake identities. Acting on this tip-off, a police team reached the state and located them in the Ernakulam area of Kochi. They were taken into custody and subsequently brought back to Mumbai for further legal action.
The duo has multiple cases registered against them—five at Kasturba Marg Police Station, four at Borivali Police Station, and one at MHB Police Station. They will first be interrogated in connection with the Kasturba Marg cases, after which they will be handed over to the respective police stations for further investigation.
Police are now probing where the accused diverted the defrauded money and whether any other individuals were involved in assisting them.