Bengaluru, July 21 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has traced and arrested a proclaimed offender, Nasreen Taj, in a high-value bank fraud case, pursuant to sustained and meticulous efforts made by the investigating team.
The CBI in its official release stated on Monday that advanced tech tools helped to identify and locate the accused absconding for nearly seven years.
The accused Nasreen Taj failed to join the trial or respond to summons and warrants and has been untraceable since 2019. Multiple Non-Bailable Warrants (NBWs) were issued against her since April 30, 2019.
Finally, the Special Court, Bengaluru, on November 27, 2021, ordered to issuance ‘Proclamation and Attachment of property warrant’ against her.
Despite sustained efforts over the years to trace Nasreen Taj, the absconding accused had remained untraceable. While other co-accused were tried and convicted/acquitted in the case, the trial against the absconding accused remained pending, the CBI said.
The accused Nasreen Taj had deliberately severed contact with her spouse, family members, and social network, frequently changed residences and assumed a new name. She had misled the local residents as well as the employer about her real identity and had maintained minimal interaction with locals, further hindering efforts to trace her.
The CBI, through the deployment of advanced technological tools and identity-tracking databases, meticulously analysed the digital footprint of the absconding accused to ascertain her current identity and location.
Supplemented by extensive field investigations and on-ground inquiries, the CBI team successfully located Nasreen Taj in Bengaluru, where she was living under the false name of Salma.
Pursuant to her identification, Nasreen Taj was apprehended on July 19, 2025 and produced before the Competent Court at Bengaluru, which remanded her to judicial custody for the purpose of further trial proceedings. The accused is presently undergoing trial, having remained absconding for a period of nearly seven years, the CBI stated.
The instant bank fraud case was registered by CBI on April 15, 2009, against accused persons, including the then Branch Manager of Syndicate Bank, Mandya Branch, Asadullah Khan and 8 others for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and use of forged documents as genuine, to defraud the Syndicate Bank, the CBI stated.
In this case, the accused had conspired to cheat the Syndicate Bank to the tune of Rs 12.63 crores. Accused Nasreen Taj had no independent source of income. However, in collusion with her husband, Asadullah Khan, and others, she fraudulently availed a Temporary Overdraft (TOD) facility of up to Rs 1.20 crore, along with farm loans amounting to Rs 55 lakhs from Syndicate Bank, the CBI said.
“The proceeds from these farm loans were illicitly diverted by her towards the repayment of the TOD, instead of utilising it for agricultural development, as mandated under the terms of the sanction.
After completion of the investigation, CBI filed the charge sheet on October 12, 2010, making Nasreen Taj one of the conspirators to cheat and defraud the Syndicate Bank,” the CBI said.
This case is a classic example of how the integration of technology-driven intelligence platforms with the persistent and coordinated efforts of investigating officers on the ground can substantially augment the operational capabilities of law enforcement agencies in tracing and apprehending long-absconding offenders, the CBI concluded.
–IANS
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