Modern-day 'Mr Natwarlal' who duped several hotels nabbed in Mumbai

The accused was in possession of as many as 58 PAN cards and Aadhar cards

In what seems to be straight out of a Bollywood masala film, Mumbai police have succeeded in nabbing a 63-year-old man, who used multiple fake identities to wine and dine in hotels, cover his tracks and make an escape without paying.

The conman has been identified as Vincent John, a resident of Kila-Ursaddi in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu.

Vincent John goes by several aliases - Thorinathan, Michael Joseph, Dilip Stephen, Michael Fernando, Vijay Kiran, Rajiv Desai, Nirmal Andrews, SP Kumar, Sanjay Machado, Sanjay Rane and Ravi Anand.

The Vashi police station of Navi Mumbai satellite township in Thane district has made the arrest after detailed investigations.

“Vincent John was in possession of as many as 58 PAN cards and Aadhar cards,” police officials said.

The accused has 187 similar fraud cases pan-India, and is wanted in several cases in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and other states and cities.

The accused also duped the five-star Hotel Regenza, part of the Tunga Hotels chain in the city.

Elaborating on the modus operandi, the Navi Mumbai police said that the accused would approach various five-star, deluxe and high-end hotels all over India, posing as a man with top corporate background.

He would impress the staff with his lavish habits and good English, book the most luxurious suites, order the most expensive food and alcoholic drinks.

“He attempted a similar strategy even at the Hotel Regenza. He also booked a banquet hall for a dozen guests for a business meet-cum-party for which high-end orders for food and beverages were placed. He even took a laptop from the hotel purportedly for a presentation." police said.

Later, the hotel authorities realised that the guest had not arrived at the banquet venue and they started a search for him, only to discover that he had vanished.

The hotel lodged a complaint with the police, which immediately launched investigation and nabbed the accused.

The elusive Vincent John, who managed to escape for long, has also confessed that he would sell the expensive liquor, cigarettes and other stuff he would pick up without clearing the bills from the deluxe hotels, to finance his lavish lifestyle, which included air travel.