By IANS
New Delhi : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Monday brought back Amarendra Nath Ghosh, accused of cheating several nationalised banks to the tune of Rs.260 million during 1994-1995, in an air ambulance after Germany cleared his extradition.
“Ghosh, accused of swindling banks to the tune of Rs.260 million, has been brought back from Munich in a special flight under the strict supervision of the agency officials and three Indian doctors after the German authorities cleared the extradition process,” a senior CBI official told IANS.
“He was also wanted for his involvement in offences committed in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates,” the official added.
Ghosh, 46, had fled to Germany before the CBI filed a charge sheet against him in 2001 for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with Allahabad Bank’s Kolkata branch officials and obtaining banker’s cheques issued in the name of fictitious people.
Later, in collusion with a Punjab National Bank manager, he allegedly opened four bank accounts and encashed the cheques worth Rs.100 million by cheating Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, United Bank of India and Andhra Bank – all in Kolkata.
According to the CBI, seven charge sheets were filed against Ghosh and others in three other cases, in which he is alleged to have swindled Rs.160 million.
Declared a proclaimed offender in February 2002, Interpol arrested him in Munich.
Ghosh, whose extradition was ordered in April 2003, approached the constitutional courts in Germany, but his pleas were turned down.
He then surprised authorities by swallowing a 10-centimetre knife, forcing German authorities to refuse to hand him over to the CBI as the knife could have proved perilous during travel.
“Ghosh deliberately didn’t allow the doctors to perform surgery on him, as the German laws require consent of the patient to be operated upon,” the official added.
He was extradited only after the government agreed to the German authorities’ request that he should be brought to India in a special plane under strict supervision of surgeons.
“The German authorities ultimately agreed to hand him over to the CBI on the condition that he is transported to India by an air ambulance in order to meet any emergency en route,” the official said.
“The CBI team of three officers along with two surgeons and an anaesthetist equipped with medicines and surgical equipment flew down to Munich and brought him back to India.”