INDIA. Mumbai: T Ravindranath Gupta, a person who was found guilty in a bank fraud case from 1993, has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Cochin International Airport in Kerala. The CBI acted on an Interpol Red Notice that had been issued against him.
The CBI’s Global Operations Centre worked with Interpol to bring back Gupta, who was facing charges related to bank fraud, forgery, and cheating.
He was accused of defrauding the bank by creating fake inland letters of credit. These are like guarantees from the buyer’s bank to the seller’s bank for domestic payments.
Gupta had been convicted by a Special Judge of CBI Cases in Bangalore in July 2010 and was supposed to serve a 3-year prison term. However, he had been on the run since then.
He had committed fraud against scheduled banks, cheating them out of Rs 1.36 crore by using fake inland letters of credit and accommodation bills during March to July 1993. He was also wanted for similar offenses against non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
The CBI had registered the case against Gupta, along with Bank of Maharashtra officials and private individuals, about 30 years ago. They were accused of cheating banks and NBFCs in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
Gupta and two others were charged by the CBI in November 1996. After they were found guilty by a CBI Court in July 2010, they appealed to the Karnataka High Court, which dismissed their appeal in March 2021. After that, Gupta went into hiding and eventually left the country.
Gupta was located in the United States, and efforts were made to bring him back with the help of Interpol. He returned to Cochin International Airport through the United Arab Emirates and was then arrested by the CBI.
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