New Delhi, March 15 – The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a proclaimed offender in connection with a 24-year-old case involving bank fraud.
The accused, Harpal Singh Ahuja, was identified by the investigating agency in a statement on Sunday.
The CBI registered a case on April 27, 2001, and after completing the investigation, a charge sheet was filed on March 19, 2003, against Ahuja and others.
The accused, Harpal Singh Ahuja, absconded during the trial proceedings in 2014, as he was the main conspirator. He was declared a proclaimed offender by the Ld. Special Court, CBI, Ghaziabad, on August 2, 2014. An arrest warrant was also issued by the court on August 1, 2017.
The CBI stated that the trial proceedings against the other accused persons have been concluded, but the trial against accused Harpal Singh Ahuja, requiring his presence before the court, is still pending.
During the 11 years that the accused, Harpal Singh Ahuja, evaded justice, he changed his locations between Mumbai and Faridabad. Finally, after strenuous efforts, the accused was located in Mumbai and arrested on March 12 in Kalyan, Mumbai.
The arrested accused was brought before the Special Judge, CBI Court, Ghaziabad, from where he has been remanded in judicial custody.
In another case, on March 10, a Special CBI Court in Lucknow sentenced four persons to Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for eight years in a Rs 6.75 crore bank fraud in Uttar Pradesh and slapped a fine of Rs 70 lakh each on them, an official said.
The Special Court punished Ramji Mishra, Shyamji Mishra, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra and Manishi Pandey, all private individuals, said a CBI statement.
The court also found two private companies guilty in the case – Manishi Enterprises, Varanasi, and Mirzapur Carpets. The court imposed a joint fine of Rs 2 crore on the two firms, it said.
The CBI registered the case on March 13, 2001, against S.N. Verma, the then Branch Manager, Central Bank of India, Mirzapur and others, on the allegations that Mirzapur Carpets availed credit facilities from the Bank’s Mirzapur Branch in 1996 using forged documents.
