Ashok Sethi, former Depot Manager of Mohan Meakins Limited, wanted by the CBI in connection with a cheating case, was finally arrested by the agency on Thursday, after being on the run for almost 20 years, from Faridabad. On Friday, Sethi was produced before the Court of Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Lucknow and remanded to judicial custody.
Sethi was absconding since 1995 after he was wanted by the CBI in the case against employees of Mohan Meakins Limited for alleged forgery of import permits for beer and Indian-Made Foreign Liquor which allegedly resulted to a loss of Rs 14.86 lakh to the government exchequer. “It was alleged that accused persons entered into criminal conspiracy to forge excise import permit for beer and Indian- Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) purported to have been issued by the Excise department, government of Mizoram,” said CBI spokesperson, Kanchan Prasad. Four such import permits for beer and seven for IMFL were presented to a private firm to lift the material from Ghaziabad and Lucknow respectively, added Prasad. CBI said a charge-sheet was filed on January 8, 1993, against the five accused including Sethi.