CBI nabs fugitive woman from Indore after almost two decades of manhunt
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: After a manhunt of almost two decades, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested wanted proclaimed offender Mani M. Sekhar in a Rs 8 crore bank fraud case from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, officials said Thursday.
The arrest was made using advanced image search and identity verification technologies.
The case, originally registered on August 1, 2006, by the CBI’s BSFB Bengaluru unit, involved the fraudulent misuse of non-fund-based banking limits to the tune of Rs 800 lakhs by Indo Marks Pvt Ltd and its sister entity. The accused, Mani M. Sekhar and her husband Ramanujam Muthuramalingam Sekhar, who were then the MD and director of the firm, were charged with cheating the State Bank of India, Overseas Branch, Bengaluru, during the period from 2002 to 2005.
Though the charge sheet was filed in December 2007, the accused dodged trial, again and again defying court summons and warrants. On February 27, 2009, the court declared them proclaimed offenders. While the remaining accused in the case were put on trial and convicted or acquitted, proceedings against the couple lingered for years.
They gradually rewrote their entire identities, using the new names Krishna Kumar Gupta and Geetha Krishna Kumar Gupta. They discarded all earlier KYC information and updated PAN numbers, mobile numbers, and email addresses—basically wiping out all digital evidence that could be traced back to the original offence.
A determined effort made by CBI officers, supported by advanced image search analytics and facial recognition software, reversed the case. The investigators employed top-level image comparison algorithms to track online trails, matching vintage images with publicly available visual information. This helped the CBI track the accused couple residing under assumed identities in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
After thorough ground verification, a CBI team conducted a surreptitious operation in Indore. In the course of the search, it was discovered that Ramanujam M. Sekhar had expired in 2008 while staying in hiding under his assumed identity. His wife, Mani M. Sekhar, was arrested on July 12, 2025, and produced in front of the competent court of Bengaluru, which sent her into judicial custody. She is now standing trial after evading arrest for almost 18 years.
