After 40 years of chase, CBI arrests proclaimed offender in bank fraud case

The CBI on Wednesday arrested proclaimed offender Satish Anand evading justice in a bank fraud case for more than four decades.

Anand, who was convicted in 1985 of cheating Bank of India of Rs 5.69 lakh and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, eluded investigators for four decades, the agency said.

Now in his seventies, Anand was arrested in Rohini in north Delhi and was taken to Dehradun to be produced before a special court, which sent him to judicial custody, CBI's spokesperson said.

In the fraud case that took place in 1977, it was alleged that the then bank branch manager had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Anand to cheat the bank.

A loan was given to a private company on the basis of forged receipts presented along with bills in which the delivery of goods was shown wrongly, due to which the bank suffered a loss and Anand got a financial benefit of Rs 5.69 lakh.

The CBI had registered a case on May 5, 1978 against three accused -- Anand, the bank manager and another accused Ashok Kumar. After investigation, a charge sheet was filed in a special CBI court.

The court of special CBI judge in Dehradun in its judgment dated June 19, 1985 acquitted the bank branch manager of the charges but convicted Anand and Kumar and sentenced them to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 15,000.

However, Anand absconded after the sentencing, following which the court declared him a proclaimed offender on November 30, 2009.

Anand evaded arrest by frequently relocating and concealing his whereabouts, making himself scarce at known addresses in New Delhi and Hapur in Uttar Pradesh, officials said, giving details of the operation.

The CBI achieved success when it got a mobile number registered in the name of Anand's son through leads generated in areas of his last known locations.

The team put a surveillance network which helped locate Anand in Rohini.