Fraudster Nitin Sandesara defaults on Rs 5,000 crore loan, may have fled to Nigeria

Looks like another fraudster fled from the clutches of Central Bureau of Investigation. Absconding director of a Gujarat-based pharma company — Nitin Sandesara — probed in a Rs 5,000 crore fraud case, was reportedly arrested in Dubai last month. However, CBI and Enforcement Directorate opine that Sandesara is likely to have fled to Nigeria.

Revealing the secret information about his family likely to flee UAE and shifted to Nigeria, as reported by Times of India, the official said, “There were reports that Nitin Sandesara was detained by UAE authorities in Dubai in the second week of August. The information was incorrect. He was never detained in Dubai. He and other family members probably left for Nigeria much before that.”

According to the information received, the investigative team are suspecting that Sandesara’s other family members too — including brother Chetan Sandesara and sister-in-law Diptiben Sandesara — might be hiding in Nigeria.

In the Rs 5,383 crore alleged fraud case of Andhra Bank, the CBI has booked Vadodara-based Sterling Biotech, its directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit and Vilas Joshi, chartered accountant Hemant Hathi, former director Andhra Bank Anup Garg and some unidentified persons in connection with the case.

Taking the FIR — lodged on Sterling Biotech on December 31, 2016 — into cognisance, the ED started the investigation and arrested Delhi-based businessman Gagan Dhawan, former Andhra Bank director Anup Garg and Sterling Biotech Ltd director Rajbhhushan Dixit. The probing agency had filed multiple chargesheets before a special court and had attached assets worth over Rs 4,700 crore of the pharmaceutical firm in June this year.

It is to be known that the investigative agency had informed the court in August that Sandesara was arrested by Dubai police based on a non-bailable arrest warrant issued by an Indian court. But now the revelation of him fleeing to Nigeria is a major setback for the investigative agencies.

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