NEW DELHI: A man accused of cheating multiple banks of more than Rs 18 crore using forged property documents and impersonation has been arrested by Delhi Police after allegedly evading arrest for nearly nine years, officials said on Saturday. The accused, identified as Sanjeev Dixit alias Sanjay Sharma, 53, was arrested on Thursday in connection with a cheating and forgery case registered in 2013 at the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) police station, according to news agency PTI. According to police, Dixit had been absconding since 2017 after escaping from the custody of Uttar Pradesh Police. He was subsequently declared a proclaimed offender by a Delhi court. Investigators later found that he was lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with another criminal case. The case was registered on the complaint of Usha Rani Sethi, who alleged that Dixit and his associates fraudulently transferred her property in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar through a forged sale deed executed in February 2013. During the investigation, police found that the accused had arranged for a woman to impersonate the complainant at the office of the sub-registrar. He also allegedly used the PAN details of another person with the same name to complete the fraudulent transaction. Police said the forged sale deed was later used to create an equitable mortgage, allowing the accused to obtain loans and credit facilities from several banks. The alleged fraud involved credit worth more than Rs 18 crore, including Rs 10 crore from Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Rs 5 crore in cash credit, a Rs 70 lakh car loan, and another Rs 3 crore cash credit facility from other banks. Officials said most of these loan accounts later became non-performing assets (NPAs), resulting in significant losses for the financial institutions. Investigators also found that the accused had placed an associate as a tenant in the complainant’s property to gain access to ownership documents and facilitate the fraud. The funds obtained from banks were allegedly routed through shell companies and fictitious bank accounts before being siphoned off through cash withdrawals and personal expenses. Despite repeated notices and search operations, Dixit remained untraceable for years. Following sustained technical surveillance, police discovered that he was lodged in Tihar Jail in another case. After obtaining a production warrant from a Delhi court, the EOW formally arrested him in the present case on June 25. Police described Dixit as a habitual economic offender with at least 12 criminal cases registered against him by the CBI and police in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The cases involve allegations of cheating, forgery, corruption and criminal conspiracy.
