Loan Fraud Convict's 'Catch Me If You Can' Of 4 Decades Ends, Courtesy CBI

He has been on the run for 47 years in a Rs 5.69 lakh bank fraud case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1978. Over four decades later, the long arm of the law has finally caught Satish Kumar Anand, who cheated Bank of India by taking a loan of Rs 5.69 lakh back then - approximately Rs 29 lakh today if inflation is factored in.

Mr Anand, who is in his 70s now, conspired with the branch manager of the bank to disburse him a loan of Rs 5.69 lakh in 1977. He used fake bills and non-existent delivery information in the name of a private company to secure the loan.

The CBI filed a case in 1978 after Bank of India discovered the fraud. In June 1985, a court sentenced Mr Anand and another accused, Ashok Kumar, to five years and fined them Rs 15,000. The branch manager was, however, acquitted in the case.

Mr Anand went into hiding after the court verdict came. Many years later in 2009, a court designated him a fugitive.

The CBI said he kept on changing his location to evade arrest. He was not found at his old address in Delhi and Hapur in Uttar Pradesh. CBI teams worked hard and gathered information about his possible hideouts all these years, but he never showed up on their radar.

The CBI achieved success when it got a mobile number registered in the name of Mr Anand's son through leads generated in areas of his last known locations. The CBI team then placed a surveillance network in Delhi's Rohini to track him down. The address was kept under constant watch.

Once the CBI felt confident the address belonged to the fugitive who they have been searching for over four decades, they moved in and arrested Mr Anand.

He was taken to a CBI court in Dehradun before he was sent into judicial custody.