HYDERABAD: He was declared “dead” two decades ago by a court here, after he disappeared with Rs 50 lakh following a bank fraud. On Sunday, when CBI sleuths arrested him after a lengthy and coordinated operation, he was disguised as a sadhu in a village in Tamil Nadu.
But this was only one of many identities he took on over the years as he traversed the length of the country to keep the investigation agency guessing.
It all started on May 1, 2002 when CBI registered a case against V Chalapathi Rao, then a computer operator with SBI’s Chandulal Baradari branch at Hyderabad, for allegedly cheating the bank of Rs 50 lakh. He had obtained loans allegedly using fabricated quotations from electronics shops and fake salary certificates made out in the names of his family members and close associates. CBI filed two chargesheets in the case in Dec 2004 after which Rao went missing.
His wife, also an accused in the fraud case, lodged an FIR with the Kamatipura police station officials on July 10, 2004, stating that her husband was missing. In 2011, she filed a petition in the civil court here to declare her husband dead as he had been missing for seven years.
The court issued a decree declaring him dead.
According to information gathered by CBI, Rao fled to Salem in Tamil Nadu and married another woman in 2007 after changing his name to M Vineet Kumar. He also obtained an Aadhaar number in that name. Through his second wife, CBI officials found out that Rao was in touch with his son from the first marriage. In 2014, he left Salem without informing anyone and moved to Bhopal, where he worked as a loan recovery agent. He then went up further north to Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, where he worked at a school. When a CBI team reached Rudrapur, it found that Rao had fled from there in 2016. “With the help of email IDs and Aadhaar details in the name of M Vineet Kumar, CBI approached Google’s law enforcement department. These details revealed that Rao had gone to an ashram in Verul village in Aurangabad,” CBI officials said. He had changed his name to Swami Vidhitatmanand Teertha and had obtained another Aadhaar card. But in Dec 2021, he left the ashram allegedly after cheating its managers of Rs 70 lakh.”
Subsequently, Rao moved to Bharatpur in Rajasthan and stayed there until July 8, 2024. He left Bharatpur and reached Tirunelveli to stay with one of his disciples. CBI received credible information that the accused was planning to escape to Sri Lanka by sea. Officials finally tracked him down and arrested him on Sunday from Narasinganallur village in Tirunelveli.
But this was only one of many identities he took on over the years as he traversed the length of the country to keep the investigation agency guessing.
It all started on May 1, 2002 when CBI registered a case against V Chalapathi Rao, then a computer operator with SBI’s Chandulal Baradari branch at Hyderabad, for allegedly cheating the bank of Rs 50 lakh. He had obtained loans allegedly using fabricated quotations from electronics shops and fake salary certificates made out in the names of his family members and close associates. CBI filed two chargesheets in the case in Dec 2004 after which Rao went missing.
His wife, also an accused in the fraud case, lodged an FIR with the Kamatipura police station officials on July 10, 2004, stating that her husband was missing. In 2011, she filed a petition in the civil court here to declare her husband dead as he had been missing for seven years.
The court issued a decree declaring him dead.
According to information gathered by CBI, Rao fled to Salem in Tamil Nadu and married another woman in 2007 after changing his name to M Vineet Kumar. He also obtained an Aadhaar number in that name. Through his second wife, CBI officials found out that Rao was in touch with his son from the first marriage. In 2014, he left Salem without informing anyone and moved to Bhopal, where he worked as a loan recovery agent. He then went up further north to Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, where he worked at a school. When a CBI team reached Rudrapur, it found that Rao had fled from there in 2016. “With the help of email IDs and Aadhaar details in the name of M Vineet Kumar, CBI approached Google’s law enforcement department. These details revealed that Rao had gone to an ashram in Verul village in Aurangabad,” CBI officials said. He had changed his name to Swami Vidhitatmanand Teertha and had obtained another Aadhaar card. But in Dec 2021, he left the ashram allegedly after cheating its managers of Rs 70 lakh.”
Subsequently, Rao moved to Bharatpur in Rajasthan and stayed there until July 8, 2024. He left Bharatpur and reached Tirunelveli to stay with one of his disciples. CBI received credible information that the accused was planning to escape to Sri Lanka by sea. Officials finally tracked him down and arrested him on Sunday from Narasinganallur village in Tirunelveli.