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.360 million during 1992-1996, in a special plane here after Germany cleared his extradition.
“Ghosh, accused of swindling banks to the tune of Rs.360 million, has been brought back from Munich in a special flight under the strict supervision of Indian doctors after the German authorities cleared the extradition process,” a senior CBI official told IANS.
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.
Ghosh also faces an inquiry in three other cases in which he is alleged to have swindled Rs.160 million. Declared a proclaimed offender in April 2002, Interpol had arrested him in Munich.
Ghosh, whose extradition was ordered in 2003, had swallowed an eight-centimetre knife following which German authorities had refused to hand him over to CBI, as the knife could have proved perilous.
“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.
According to the CBI official, he will be produced before a city court soon.