The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested A Karunakar Vijay (54) at the Bangalore airport after he was deported from Lagos in Nigeria, where he was nabbed by the Interpol for defrauding several Indian banks to the tune of Rs 25-40 crore (Rs 250-400 million).
The CBI is producing the 54-year-old accused in the court later in the day for a 15-day judicial custody for interrogating him in as many as five case under sections 420, 460, and 470 of the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
"We have been on the look out for him since two years when he went absconding from India. He was tracked down in Nigeria with a red-corner alert and brought to Mumbai in the wee hours of Thursday by the Nigerian police," CBI superintendent of police Biju George told rediff.com.
Vijay, who hails from Kerala, is accused of masterminding the fraud in collusion with some bank officials of the Canara Bank, the Corporation Bank, the Indian and Overseas Bank.
"His modus operandi was to forge FCNR receipts of NRI depositors and raise loans using them as security posing as a managing director of some private firm," George said.
"We will be interrogating him to find out the identity of his group members who are also involved in the conspiracy in which bank officials were hand-in-glove. Investigations against the bank officials are being conducted by the banking and fraud cell of the CBI," Georege said.