In a breakthrough driven largely by human intelligence, Trombay police have arrested 72-year-old Popat Govind Vaydande, who had been absconding for 45 years, in an attempt to murder case registered in 1981. The case was recently reopened after a court sought a search report and issued a proclamation under Section 82 of the CrPC, formally declaring him an absconder and directing him to appear — an order he had evaded for decades.

Shenoli link emerges

As the probe progressed, police pieced together his past, including multiple offences involving violence, and confirmed he had been externed from Mumbai in 1981. Inputs led them to Shenoli in Satara district, where he had once lived with a woman named Begum.