CBI Nabs Ghost of ’92 Bank Fraud: Proclaimed Offender Tracked After 30-Year Manhunt in Mumbai
(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)
New Delhi/Mumbai, February 27, 2026 – In a stunning demonstration to the long arm of the law, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has finally apprehended Anant Tambitkar, a proclaimed offender who evaded justice for nearly three decades in a high-stakes bank fraud case dating back to 1992.
The arrest, executed on February 26, 2026, in Mumbai, marks the dramatic culmination of an unrelenting investigation that blended cutting-edge technical intelligence with gritty field verification, underscoring the CBI’s prowess in cracking cold cases.
The saga began over three decades ago when the CBI registered FIR No. RC-12(A)/92 under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case cantered on a brazen fraud involving sham financial transactions that inflicted substantial wrongful loss on the State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), now merged into the State Bank of India.
Post a thorough probe, the CBI filed a chargesheet in 1996 before the competent court.
The trial proceeded against nine co-accused, all of whom were convicted after evidence of forgery, fictitious loans, and orchestrated criminal misconduct was irrefutably established.
Justice was swift for them—but Tambitkar, a key player in the syndicate, slipped through the cracks. Having actively participated in the fraudulent manoeuvres, he absconded immediately after the chargesheet, prompting the court to declare him a Proclaimed Offender (PO) under Section 82/83 CrPC.
His trial was duly separated, leaving a gaping void in the judicial closure.
For 30 long years, Tambitkar remained a phantom on the CBI’s most-wanted radar, his trail gone cold amid urban sprawl and alias games. That changed with a breakthrough in technical surveillance—digital footprints and intel fusion pinpointed his hideout in Mumbai.
CBI sleuths, acting on this lead, conducted meticulous field verification, culminating in a swift, no-holds-barred operation. Tambitkar was nabbed without resistance and produced before the jurisdictional magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody after adherence to all due legal protocols.
CBI sources hailed the arrest as a “masterclass in persistence,” noting that renewed intelligence-sharing protocols and forensic tech upgrades were pivotal. “This isn’t just an arrest; it’s poetic justice for a fraud that mocked the system for generations,” a senior officer remarked, emphasizing how the agency’s Anti-Corruption Division refused to let history bury the crime.
With Tambitkar now in custody, the separated trial is set to resume, promising reckoning for the architect of the 1992 heist.
The case reaffirms the CBI’s ironclad commitment to zero tolerance on economic offenses, even as statutes of limitation fade into irrelevance against proclaimed offenders.
The investigation continues, with Tambitkar’s interrogation expected to unearth any lingering networks or assets from the fraud.
