The CBI on Wednesday arrested a fugitive who had evaded justice for more than 40 years in connection with a bank fraud case, drawing to a close an extraordinary saga of prolonged abscondence, officials said. Satish Kumar Anand, a former manager of Hapur-based Ashok Trading, and Ashok Kumar, the owner of the company, were convicted in 1985 for defrauding the Bank of India of Rs 5.69 lakh, they said.

Anand and Kumar had allegedly conspired with the branch manager in 1977 to fraudulently secure a loan for the company. The loan was sanctioned on the basis of a fabricated receipt and forged bills falsely indicating the dispatch of a consignment, a CBI spokesperson said. As a result of the fraud, the bank incurred a wrongful loss amounting to Rs 5.69 lakh, a sum Anand is accused of misappropriating.

The CBI which had registered the case in 1978 spent seven years in investigation and trial, resulting in the conviction of Anand and Kumar awarded by the Special Court in Dehradun in 1985. The branch manager was acquitted of all charges, the spokesperson said. Anand was awarded five years rigorous imprisonment for the crime but he absconded after the award of sentence and skilfully avoided detection for nearly 40 years.