A 54-year-old fugitive who took off to India after a brutal Long Island car wreck that killed a doting dad more than 20 years ago was finally extradited and is now facing justice, prosecutors said Monday.
Ganesh Shenoy, who skipped out on felony charges and boarded a plane to Mumbai just two weeks after the April 11, 2005, crash in Hicksville that killed 44-year-old Philip Mastropolo, was arraigned on manslaughter charges Friday and ordered held without bail, the Nassau County DA’s office said.
“For decades, Philip’s family has lived with the pain of his loss and the knowledge that the man responsible for his death was half a world away,” Republican Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. “But not anymore.
Philip Mastropolo’s car was so viciously struck that it skidded 65 feet following the April 11, 2005 Long Island crash. NCDA
Ganesh Shenoy, 54, ran out on a manslaughter charge two weeks after a fatal 2005 Long Island crash.
“Ganesh Shenoy will be held responsible for his alleged actions, and my office will get justice for Philip and his family.”
Mastropolo was on his way to work as a maintenance engineer around 6 a.m. when a 1993 Volvo allegedly driven by Shenoy at twice the speed limit blew through a red light on Levittown Parkway and slammed into his Cadillac, killing Mastropolo on the spot.
The impact was so violent that Mastropolo’s car skidded for 65 feet and slammed into a box truck that was stopped at the traffic light, prosecutors said. Images of the crash showed the car unrecognizable.
Shenoy, who declined medical treatment at a local hospital, was charged and forced to surrender his Indian passport and driver’s license — but he didn’t hang around to face the music.
Philip Mastropolo, a 44-year-old dad, was driving to work on April 11, 2005, when he was killed in Hicksville. NCDA
More than 20 years after fleeing to India, Ganesh Shenoy was charged in a fatal 2005 Long Island crash. NCDAOn April 25, 2005, he jumped on a flight at JFK airport and slipped away, later landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai and dodging the law for more than two decades.
A Nassau County grand jury voted to indict Shenoy on Aug. 8, 2005, even as he remained on the lam.
It wasn’t until this week that the US Marshals Service tracked him down and returned him to Long Island on Thursday, a day before he was arraigned and ordered held without bail.
The DA’s office said the US Department of Justice and US Embassy in India helped return Shenoy stateside. His extradition also marked the first time a suspect was returned from India since 2017, according to the DA’s office.
Shenoy is due back in court on Oct. 14. He is facing 5 to 15 years in prison if convicted of the manslaughter charges.
“After decades of evading law enforcement and dodging prosecution, my office finally returned this defendant to the United States to answer for the tragic death of a husband and father of two more than 20 years ago,” Donnelly said.
