New Delhi, January 30 (). The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two proclaimed offenders wanted in long-pending cases of bank fraud worth crores of rupees.
The arrests were made after a well-planned operation conducted in the two cities on Friday, the CBI said in an official press release.
The accused have been identified as Sanjay Sharma (also known as Sanjeev Dixit and Pankaj Bhardwaj), resident of Banswara, Rajasthan, and Sheetal Sharma (also known as Aarti Sharma), resident of Vadodara, Gujarat.
Both were absconding for many years and were declared absconders by the competent courts.
According to CBI, Sanjay Sharma was named in two separate bank fraud cases. In the first case registered on March 13, 2013, he was accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 9.95 crore in connivance with other unidentified persons.
In the second case, registered on July 11, 2013, he was accused of committing a fraud of Rs 4 crore in connivance with Aarti Sharma and others.
Aarti Sharma was declared a fugitive in one case on August 30, 2016, while Sanjay Sharma was declared a fugitive in separate cases on August 11, 2016, and again on November 23, 2017.
The agency revealed that Sanjay Sharma was first arrested by the Haryana Police on July 27, 2014, but later absconded during his appearance in a court in Sonipat on April 4, 2016, and thereafter went underground.
Investigators found that Sanjay Sharma was living under a fake identity in the name of Pankaj Bhardwaj. Analysis of financial transactions and mobile data played an important role in tracing their whereabouts. Both the accused were arrested with fake identity documents. He was produced before the competent court, which issued a transit remand to bring him to Delhi.
Further legal action is underway in the cases.
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