After years of evasion, two key accused in high-value bank loan frauds are in CBI custody. The agency’s Friday operations in two locations culminated in the arrest of proclaimed offenders who had mocked the law with fake identities.
Sanjay Sharma, 40s, from Rajasthan’s Banswara, and Sheetal Sharma from Gujarat’s Vadodara, operated under multiple aliases—Sanjay as Sanjeev Dixit and Pankaj Bhardwaj, Sheetal as Aarti Sharma. Declared absconders by courts, they were central to scams rocking public sector banks.
The timeline reveals Sanjay’s role in a Rs 9.95 crore PNB fraud (FIR: March 2013) and a Rs 4 crore conspiracy with Aarti (FIR: July 2013). Proclamations followed: Aarti in August 2016; Sanjay twice in 2016-17.
Flashback: Haryana arrested Sanjay in 2014, only for him to bolt from court in 2016. CBI’s digital forensics—tracing money trails and phone logs—unmasked his Pankaj guise. Fake docs sealed their arrest.
Produced in court, transit remand paves way for Delhi questioning. This haul boosts CBI’s conviction rate in economic offenses, reminding fraudsters of the long arm of the law.
With cases advancing, expect tighter scrutiny on banking loopholes exploited in these multi-crore heists.