Overview
- Punetha arrived in New Delhi on November 13 under CBI and state police supervision and is being handed over to Uttarakhand Police for further legal action.
- INTERPOL issued the Red Notice on May 6, 2025 at the request of Uttarakhand Police, and a state police team traveled to the UAE on November 10 to escort him back.
- The operation involved coordination among the CBI as India’s INTERPOL NCB, the MEA, the MHA, and UAE authorities using BHARATPOL and INTERPOL channels.
- He is named in FIR No. 239/2021 at Pithoragarh and faces charges under IPC sections 420, 406, 504, 506, 120B, Section 3 of the UPID Act, and the Gangster Act invoked in 2023.
- Police say he and associates ran fake stock and commodity investment schemes, allegedly amassing ₹2.22 crore in assets; he had been absconding for years with a ₹50,000 reward announced in 2022.