Absconding Proclaimed Offender Gets Seven Years for Bank Fraud

A CBI court in Delhi has sentenced a former absconder to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in a bank fraud case and imposed a fine of Rs 1.6 lakh. The court's order was confirmed by the CBI in a statement released on Monday.

The convicted man, Sanjeev Dixit, also called Sanjay Sharma, was accused in a case lodged on July 11, 2013. Along with him, the case named Sanjay Sharma, proprietor of M/s Super Machines, Indira Rani, and several other unidentified persons. Dixit was the owner of M/s Shankar Metals.

The prosecution alleged that the accused hatched a criminal plot and used fake property documents to obtain a Rs 4 crore cash credit facility from the Jor Bagh branch of Punjab National Bank in New Delhi. According to the CBI, the funds were diverted away from the purpose for which the credit line had been approved.

Dixit had escaped from judicial custody in 2016 while being produced before a Sonipat court in another matter. Following his escape, the trial court declared him a proclaimed offender on November 23, 2017.

In January 2026, the CBI learned that he was living in Vadodara under the false name 'Pankaj Bharadwaj', son of Braj Mohan Bharadwaj. After tracing him to the Mata Tripura Sundari temple in Banswara district of Rajasthan, the agency arrested him on January 30.

In court, Dixit admitted to charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating by changing identity, fraud, forgery of valuable documents, forgery for cheating, and using forged documents as genuine. The Rouse Avenue Court pronounced him guilty on October 24 and sentenced him accordingly.