Ahmedabad: Escaping the long arm of law takes audacity, knowledge of how the system works, and its loopholes. The case of Hemant Modi, the absconder-actor, who hoodwinked the system for 12 years, is unravelling act after act, role after role. Police say that Modi — an aspiring legal eagle before theatre beckoned and a murder case landed him behind bars — passed the exam for judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) in 2008 while in jail, that too with flying colours.After jumping parole in 2014 from Mehsana jail, Modi even reportedly “practised law, appearing as an advocate before some courts in North Gujarat and Ahmedabad, pleading bail for his clients”, inputs police have received from sources close to Modi. This role as a practising lawyer has made police dig deeper into his post-parole repertoire.Along with his “appearances in court”, Modi went back to theatre and soon reinvented himself for Bollywood, playing parts alongside some of the biggest film stars.Modi, now 54,was arrested on May 20 from a rented accommodation near Gheekanta Metro Station. Modi, his brother Sachin, and five others, had been convicted in the murder of his neighbour in Naroda, Narendra Kamble, in June 2005.A senior police officer from Ahmedabad crime branch said, “Modi was first lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail with his brother, Sachin, in the 2005 murder of his neighbour.In Jan 2008, when he was still an undertrial, Modi took the JMFC exam and cleared it. He was among the 411 successful candidates and even received an interview call letter from the Gujarat high court. Facing a murder trial meant he couldn’t go.”The officer said Modi had sought bail from the city sessions court to appear for the oral test, “but withdrew his application in May 2008 after the judge declined the plea”. The officer added, “We are probing about the work he did as an advocate after jumping parole in the case.”In June 2005, while lodged in Sabarmati jail as an undertrial, he came close to Chetan Patel alias Chetan Battery from Naroda. Two months later, Patel was allegedly killed in a gang war with another notorious goon, Gova Rabari.Hemant and Sachin too were injured trying to save Patel. The brothers, witnesses in this case, were transferred to Mehsana jail for security.In 2008, Modi, Sachin and others were sentenced to life for Kamble’s murder. It was then that Modi went back to his law books and took the JMFC exam.In July 2014, the Gujarat high court granted Modi a 30-day parole. He slipped through the crack to reinvent himself as an advocate and as an artist, first slipping into Gujarat’s theatre circuit, and then building a career in Mumbai’s entertainment industry.
