New Delhi, Jan 30 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two proclaimed offenders wanted in long-pending bank fraud cases involving crores of rupees.

The arrests were made on Friday, following a meticulously planned operation conducted across two cities, the agency said in an official press release.

The accused have been identified as Sanjay Sharma, also known by aliases Sanjeev Dixit and Pankaj Bhardwaj, a resident of Banswara, Rajasthan, and Sheetal Sharma, also known as Aarti Sharma, from Vadodara, Gujarat.

Both had been absconding for several years and were declared proclaimed offenders by competent courts.

According to the CBI, Sanjay Sharma was named in two separate bank fraud cases. In the first case, registered on March 13, 2013, he was accused of cheating Punjab National Bank (PNB) to the tune of Rs 9.95 crore, along with other unknown persons.

In the second case, registered on July 11, 2013, he was charged with a Rs 4 crore fraud, along with Aarti Sharma and others.

Aarti Sharma was declared a proclaimed offender in one case on August 30, 2016, while Sanjay Sharma was declared a proclaimed offender on August 11, 2016, and again on November 23, 2017, in separate cases.

The agency revealed that Sanjay Sharma had earlier been arrested by Haryana Police on July 27, 2014, but later escaped custody while being produced before a court in Sonipat on April 4, 2016, and subsequently went underground.

After years of coordinated efforts, the CBI traced the accused using extensive open-source intelligence, data analytics, mobile phone analysis, and human intelligence.

Investigators found that Sanjay Sharma was living under a false identity as Pankaj Bhardwaj. Analysis of financial transactions and mobile data played a key role in pinpointing their locations. Both accused were arrested while carrying forged identity documents. They were produced before the competent court, which granted transit remand to bring them to Delhi.

The court also directed that they be presented before the respective courts that had issued the proclamation orders.

Further legal proceedings in the cases are underway.

/IANS