New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) Ending a 13-year-long chase, the CBI arrested a Proclaimed Offender from Kollam in Kerala in connection with a Rs 1.5 crore bank fraud in Punjab, an official said on Sunday.

The CBI arrested Surendran J., a resident of Kulakkada Panchayat, Kollam, on September 18 after tracking him down using technical surveillance, said the official in a statement.

Surendran, the proprietor of the company Stich and Ship in Kollam, and others were booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in July 2010 on the allegations of availing foreign bill purchase credit facility to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore on the basis of forged and fake documents from Bank of India, Ludhiana, the CBI said.

Accused Surendran J. was a principal conspirator in the conspiracy, and a charge sheet was earlier filed in a Special CBI Court in SAS Nagar, Mohali, Punjab, against him and others, said the CBI.

Surendran earlier failed to join the trial and was declared a Proclaimed Offender by the court in 2012. The CBI said despite sustained efforts to trace him, he remained absconding.

Recently, on the basis of technical intelligence and ground verification, his location was pinpointed in Kollam district, Kerala, leading to his arrest, said the federal probe agency.

The CBI said in a statement that soon after Surendran was arrested, he was produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram, on Friday.

The court accepted the CBI’s application for granting his transit remand so that he could be produced in the Special CBI Court in Mohali, Punjab.

A CBI statement said that the Proclaimed Offender was produced in the Special CBI Court, Mohali, on Saturday and remanded to judicial custody.

Surendran managed to dupe the bank while using a credit facility often provided to exporters. He gave forged documents for the Foreign Bill Purchase (FBP)-linked short-term credit facility offered to exporters to help manage their cash flow needs while awaiting payment from foreign buyers.

–IANS

rch/uk