For nearly three decades, he had been Sam Peter, Rahul Peter, Danny Tharakkan, Rajesh Robinson, Anthony Francis. He may have used many more names over the years, the police says, “we know about only these five till now”.He changed his location and, sometimes, even the agency he claimed to represent. Sometimes he was a National Investigation Agency (NIA) official, at other times a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) man. He carried fake passports, Aadhaar and PAN cards to match the identities he assumed.To the police, his name meant one thing: a conman with exceptional expertise in deception – one strikingly similar to Special 26, the Bollywood film in which a gang skilfully impersonates CBI officers to target wealthy victims.On September 1, this most-wanted conman, Sam Antony alias Sam Peter alias….., 64, was arrested by the Mangaluru City Police from Kerala’s Kannur. The arrest was made in a 2019 case.Also read | Two decades on, CBI arrests absconding accused in bank fraud caseWhat continues to baffle the police is how easily he passed himself off as someone he is not.“He is fluent in English and his authority over the law is remarkable. If someone is unaware of his history and speaks to him for 10 minutes, he can convince them that he is some elite businessman or an officer of a central agency,” says Mangaluru East police inspector Anantha Padmanabha, who questioned him after his arrest this time.A police officer describes him: well-built, well-dressed, shirt tucked in, shoes polished, carrying himself with the body language of a bureaucrat.Story continues below this ad“And with his command over the English language, he could blindly earn respect,” the officer says.In fact, the police officials later gave a clear description and even released his pictures. In his latest mug shot, his big muddy eyes look puffy. He has a broad nose and sports a moustache. He has a head full of hair, though it is thinning at the front. He doesn’t colour his hair, he tells the police. But his hair is too black for a man of his receding years. He is 5 ft 8 inches tall with a solid, muscular physique. He always has a presence and always reads the room before speaking. He is articulate: his words are measured and his tone authoritative.An MBA graduate from Kollam, Antony is married with two children. However, his wife and children reportedly don’t live with him.Where there was trouble, Antony was thereThe Police officials say Antony’s ‘method’ was simple. He would approach wealthy businessmen entangled in bank fraud, tax disputes and financial disagreements involving central agencies, and offer to make their legal troubles disappear in exchange for a ‘fee’.Story continues below this adUsually, police officials say, Antony posed as a senior National Crime Investigation Bureau (NCIB) officer. The NCIB is an independent non-governmental body engaged in promoting awareness against crimes. But Antony would present it to his victims as one of the country’s premier investigating agencies.Also read | Solving crime | How a ‘dead’ murder accused lived in plain sight — for 19 years. Then, cops sniffed him outMany fell for the ruse; some did not even complain, a police official says, “wherever there was a dispute involving central probe agencies, Antony haazir tha (Antony was present)”.The question that baffles the investigators is how he knew where to appear. “Did he get the information from the media or did he cultivate insiders in central agencies? We are yet to ascertain his sources of information,’’ the officer says.Once he had found a target, the police officer says, Antony managed the necessary material to make his act look real: doctored texts, fake raid videos and fake letterheads of the NCIB and other agencies.Story continues below this adThe Police officials cite the case of a businessman, Abdul Sharif, to illustrate how he operated. In 2018, a police officer says, Sharif’s brother Shiyabuddin was being questioned by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) after the customs department seized a gold consignment at the airport. “Antony somehow found out about this. He formed a team of five and approached Sharif, claiming he was a senior NCIB officer, and proposed a deal — he would get the case closed against his brother in exchange for a bribe,’’ the officer says. Over the next 10 months, the officer says, Anthony allegedly extorted Rs 1.13 crore in several instalments from Sharif.Also read | Man absconding for 25 years arrested for murder of roommateBy the time Sharif grew wise to the con, it was too late. Subsequently, Sharif filed a complaint and a FIR was registered on August 27, 2019, at Konaje police station in Karnataka.In another case registered against Antony in Bengaluru, at Yelahanka New Town police station in 2019, the police officer recalls, he posed as an NCIB officer to set up an office, ran it for seven months, and fled without paying the rent.The Police officer says Antony did not run an exclusive gang. “But he had a permanent partner — a lawyer in Bengaluru,’’ he says.Story continues below this adA long crime trailWhen police began tracing his records, they found it stretched as far back as 1997. “The first was a cheating case registered at Khairagarh police station in Chhattisgarh,” another police officer reveals.A year later, in 1998, his first case in Karnataka was registered at Kushalnagar Town police station.But police believe that this case may not have been the beginning of his activities in the state. “There could have been other cases that never made it into the records,’’ the officer says.The last time police caught him was in 2019.On August 16 of that year, police officer Maruthi S V received information that a senior NCIB officer was staying at Sai Arya Lodge in Mangaluru. This senior NCIB officer, Maruthi S V recalls, had claimed he was there for an important investigation. Central agencies usually alert the local police. So, Maruthi suspected something was wrong.Story continues below this adAlso read | Man who evaded arrest for 15 years in wife’s murder gives Gujarat Police another slip, jumps temporary bailWhen he went to the spot, he found Antony — who was posing as Sam Peter then — with his associates. They were armed with revolvers. Though Antony tried to pull the NCIB officer con, it didn’t work.Police, acting suo motu, raided the lodge and arrested Antony and his 7 associates: Madan, Bopanna, Chinnappa, Sunil Raju, Kodandaram, Abdul Lathif, Mohiddin Cheriyan. Police recovered firearms (a revolver and pistol), fake ID cards, cash, vehicles (including a Mahindra Xylo and a Jeep), mobile phones and documents of a property worth over Rs 15.7 lakh. Antony was booked for impersonation, criminal conspiracy, Arms Act charges, and misuse of the State Emblem.The police eventually realised that they had caught a man wanted in many states. There was even an interpol Red Corner notice against him issued in 2007.“Some of the staff, who worked on the case, were not even born when Antony started committing crimes,” a police officer says, laughing. For years, the accused had managed to stay ahead of the police by moving from one state to another and changing identities along the way.Story continues below this ad“Usually, he committed multiple crimes in one place and later vanished to start again in another place, in another state. For instance, after committing crimes in Chhattisgarh, he came to Karnataka, later, he went to Bihar, then to Chennai, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and so on,” a police officer says.His safe haven, the officer says, was the Northeastern states, where he had ample contacts. He also took care not to leave an obvious digital or financial trail. He never registered a mobile SIM card in his own name and, although he had multiple bank accounts, police say no money transactions were carried out through accounts in his name.“During the investigation, we also found that he has a girlfriend in Lucknow, who has transferred money to him often,” a police officer says. She is yet to be questioned.Vanishing act, then arrestIn 2023, police said, Antony secured bail. He wastes no time and disappears immediately. For the next three years, the police struggled to locate him without any success. The trail goes cold eventually.Story continues below this adThree months ago, Mangaluru City Police, who had been looking into long-pending cases, came across Antony’s file. Determined to arrest him this time, the police formed three special teams under the City Crime Branch (CCB) to track him.“We did not have his contact number or any details about his whereabouts. We only knew that he is from Kerala and has spent most of his time in Chennai,’’ a police officer recalls. “Thus, we started searching for him in both of those states. We started by establishing contact with those who were his associates in the past”.Then the police find something they did not expect.Antony had allegedly cosied up to a Kerala politician and was attending events as a chief guest. “He recently attended a media event as a chief guest in Kerala. We got photos of this event. That’s how we finally nabbed him,’’ the officer says.CCB police inspector Rafeek KM says that even when the accused was arrested, he was carrying fake documents and living under a different name. “He was now Daniel Tharakan, a ‘retired senior officer from the NCIB’,” he says.The Mangaluru City Police has now compiled a list of 17 cases possibly involving Antony. “We have written to all police stations in the country to ascertain if there are cases pending against him,” says Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy C H. Mangaluru East police have also filed chargesheet in the 2019 case and the trial is underway.But even after Antony’s arrest, his deceptive tactics didn’t stop. Soon a senior police officer in Karnataka began receiving calls from Kerala insisting that he is an honest and upright officer, who has been wrongly picked up.“I got a call from a lawyer, a businessman and another influential person who were in shock… They said Daniel (Antony) was an upright person,’’ the officer says. “I had to share his history to convince them”.