Ahmedabad, Apr 18 (NIE): Vadodara-based businessman Suresh N Bhatnagar and his two sons — Amit and Sumit Bhatnagar — who have been evading arrest for more than a week after they were booked for allegedly defrauding a consortium of 11 banks to the tune of Rs 2,654 crore, were arrested from a hotel in Udaipur on Tuesday night in a joint operation of Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad and CBI. ATS officials said that the CBI had sought their help in tracing the trio.

Last Saturday, a special CBI court had issued non-bailable warrant against them. On Tuesday, the CBI had also moved an application, asking the court to declare them as proclaimed offender. Last week, the same court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the three accused while observing that “scamsters of big economic offences have fled the country and justice”.

“It is taken into consideration that day in and day out, generally scamsters of big economic offences are leaving the country.. and fleeing from justice. The present exposure of credit facilities from various member banks availed by the company reveals overall Rs 2,654.40 crore exposure,” the special judge N G Dave had stated in his order.

The CBI had lodged an FIR on March 26, alleging that Bhatnagars, who run Diamond Power Infrastructure Limited (DPIL), defrauded a consortium of public and private sector banks, leaving behind an outstanding debt of Rs 2,654.40 crore as on June 29, 2016.

The FIR stated that the firm, involved in manufacturing cables and other electrical equipment, got the term loan and credit facilities despite the fact that “they were already appearing in the defaulters’ list of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at the time of initial sanction of credit limits by the consortium”.