Goa gangster re-arrested after he escaped custody

He was arrested in theft case, confessed during interrogation that he was offered contract to eliminate state Home Minister Ravi Naik?s family, and was re-arrested on Monday evening two months after he managed to give the police a slip in February.

The infamous rowdy sheeter Michael Fernandes was re-captured by Goa police from the thick jungles near Khola village in Goa?s southernmost taluka ? Canacona.

Michael, 23, was hiding in the jungles since the day he escaped from moving police escort bus while being taken back from a Goa medical college at Bambolim back to Vasco jail, on February 22.

In well-planned month-long sting operation by nearly 26 armed policemen, nabbed the accused along with his associate Dipak Kerkar and recovered from them a gun loaded with six live rounds.

Addressing a press conference after the successful nab, deputy superintendent of police Deu Benaulikar said that three police officials including police inspector Vishwesh Karpe were injured during the operation.

?The goon was on the prowl in Karnataka and Maharashtra after he escaped from the custody in February. Hours after his escape, Michael looted a foreigner in Canacona and few days later his gang robbed Manisha Patil at gunpoint in the Kankavli village (Maharashtra),? Benaulikar said.

Michael had formed a new gang of five members after his recent escape. His old criminal associates are serving imprisonment in different jails across the State for indulging in various crimes.

The notorious criminal?s rap sheet is a mile long including threaten to kill, robbery, dacoits, chain snatching, vehicle thefts and other similar offenses across Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Michael was arrested in September 2010 in a theft case. Goa Director General of Police B S Bassi had told reporters that the thief during interrogation had confessed of accepting ?supari? (contract) to kill home minister?s son Roy and harm Nail family.

Security to the minister?s family was upgraded from ?Z? to ?Z plus? security and Roy was provided a police security officer.

However, even after this confession, Goa police have not filed First Information Report against him for the alleged conspiracy. ?No FIR has been registered regarding this case,? Benaulikar told reporters, when asked on whether police had taken cognizance of the confession.

With a series of crimes in his kitty and track record of jail breaks, the police are contemplating moving the Court seeking permission to handcuff him, whenever he is taken out of the jail.