A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court at Rouse Avenue, New Delhi, on 24 October 2026 convicted and sentenced bank fraud accused Sanjeev Dixit, also known as Sanjay Sharma, to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1.6 lakh. The conviction follows a years-long fugitive chase that ended with Dixit's arrest at a temple in Rajasthan earlier this year.

The Fraud: How ₹4 Crore Was Siphoned from Punjab National Bank

According to the CBI, the case was registered on 11 July 2013 against Dixit, who served as proprietor of M/s Shankar Metals, along with Sanjay Sharma, proprietor of M/s Super Machines, and Indra Rani, among other unidentified persons. The accused allegedly conspired to fraudulently obtain a cash credit facility of ₹4 crore from Punjab National Bank's Jor Bagh branch in New Delhi using forged property documents. The sanctioned loan amount was subsequently diverted for purposes other than those for which the credit facility had been approved, the CBI stated.

The Decade-Long Fugitive Run and Fake Identity

In 2016, Dixit escaped from judicial custody while being produced before a court in Sonipat in connection with a separate case. He went on the run and was declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court on 23 November 2017. For nearly a decade, he evaded authorities by living under a fabricated identity — posing as Pankaj Bhardwaj, son of Brij Mohan Bhardwaj — in Vadodara.

In January 2026, the CBI received a tip-off about his whereabouts. Investigators traced him to Mata Tripura Sundari Mandir in Banswara district, Rajasthan, and arrested him on 30 January 2026. This comes amid a broader CBI push to pursue long-pending proclaimed offenders in financial fraud cases, several of whom have been apprehended in the last two years.

Guilty Plea and the Court's Verdict

During the trial, Dixit pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including criminal conspiracy, cheating by personation, cheating, forgery of valuable security, forgery for the purpose of cheating, and using forged documents as genuine. Following the guilty plea, the Rouse Avenue special CBI court delivered its verdict on 24 October 2026, sentencing him to seven years' rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of ₹1.6 lakh.

Significance and What Comes Next

The case underscores vulnerabilities in bank credit disbursement processes that allowed forged property documents to pass scrutiny at one of India's largest public sector lenders. Notably, the accused managed to remain at large for nearly nine years after escaping custody — raising questions about coordination between agencies tracking proclaimed offenders. The fine imposed remains modest relative to the ₹4 crore alleged fraud amount, and it remains to be seen whether recovery proceedings against the implicated firms will follow the conviction.