Absconding convict brought back from US, arrested on arrival

A bank fraud convict having an Interpol Red Notice against him was brought back from the US in an operation coordinated by the CBI through Interpol channels and arrested by the central agency upon his arrival in Kochi, ending his two-year run, officials said Wednesday. T Ravindranath Gupta landed at the Kochi airport Tuesday night from the US via the UAE and a CBI team took him into the custody upon his arrival on the basis of information shared through Interpol channels. Gupta was convicted by a special court in Bengaluru for defrauding scheduled banks to the tune of Rs 1.36 crore by submitting forged inland letters of credit (ILCs) in collusion with bank officials and private persons during March-July in 1993, they said. An inland letter of credit is a guarantee issued by the buyer’s bank to the seller’s bank to make payment domestically.

The CBI, in its FIR registered on September 22, 1993, alleged that Gupta colluded with bank officials and private persons to cheat scheduled banks and non-banking financial companies in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru by forging ILCs and submitting fake accommodation bills. The agency had filed a charge sheet in 1996, which resulted in Gupta being sentenced to three-year simple imprisonment in 2010 along with two other co-accused. An Interpol Red Notice was issued against Gupta on April 4 this year and authorities of the countries where the agency suspected him to be were alerted.

The Red Notice, which is the highest form of alert of the Interpol to law enforcement agencies to detain a fugitive, restricted the movement of Gupta, they said. His appeal was rejected by the Karnataka High Court on March 22, 2021, following which he fled the country. The CBI coordinated the operation with the National Central Bureau, Washington, following which Gupta returned from the US via the UAE and landed at the Kochi airport, where the agency took him into custody.

“The Global Operations Centre of CBI, in close coordination with Interpol channels, has coordinated the return of a Red Notice Subject. He returned to India from the USA…(he) was wanted in a CBI case…for defrauding the bank by forging the inland letters of credit, cheating and forgery,” a CBI spokesperson said.