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CBI Uses AI to Nab Fugitive in ₹8 Crore Bank Fraud After 20 Years

Her arrest with over 90% image-match accuracy underscores the growing role of AI in cracking long-cold financial crime cases.

Representative Image
The CBI has arrested Mani M Sekhar nearly 20 years after a Rs 8 crore bank fraud.

Overview

  • Mani M. Sekhar was arrested in Indore on July 12 after nearly two decades as a proclaimed offender in a ₹8 crore bank fraud case and has been remanded to judicial custody in Bengaluru.
  • Investigators employed AI-driven image search and facial recognition tools to trace Sekhar’s digital footprints and confirm her assumed identity with over 90% photo-match accuracy.
  • Between 2002 and 2005, Sekhar and her husband allegedly conspired to misuse non-fund-based credit limits to defraud the State Bank of India’s overseas branch, Bengaluru, of ₹8 crore.
  • The couple shed all prior identifiers—adopting the names Krishna Kumar Gupta and Geetha Krishna Kumar Gupta and changing mobile numbers, PAN cards and other KYC details—to evade detection.
  • While Ramanujam Sekhar was later found to have died under his assumed identity in 2008, the CBI has advanced asset-recovery actions tied to the fraud as Sekhar faces trial.