Hyderabad: Fugitive criminal and master of disguise Chalapathi Rao arrested

Hyderabad: The story of V Chalapathi Rao, who went underground after allegedly defrauding the State Bank of India’s (SBI) Chandulal Baradari branch in Hyderabad, truly reflects his criminal ingenuity. He changed his name thrice and his whereabouts six times and kept moving across different states. His wife moved the court and even got a declaration order for him to be declared dead, but the long arm of the law finally caught up with him after two decades when CBI sleuths arrested him in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu last Sunday and brought him back to Hyderabad. The two-decade-long CBI investigation began after Chalapathi Rao defrauded the SBI’s Chandulal Baradari branch in Hyderabad of Rs 50 lakh. He allegedly forged quotations of electronic shops and fake salary certificates in the name of his family members and close associates and embezzled the money. He was working as a computer operator in the bank at the time, the bureau’s press release said on Tuesday. The CBI began the investigation and filed two chargesheets in 2004 and the accused was missing since 2004 and his wife was also an accused in the case. However, she filed a petition in the civil court to declare the absconding accused Chalapathi Rao as dead after completion of seven years since Chalapathi Rao had allegedly gone missing. The Hyderabad City Civil Court has also passed an order in this regard.

Since Chalapathi Rao was absconding, the case against him was separated and on completion of proceedings under Sections 82 and 83 CrPC, he was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) in the CBI case in April 2023. During the investigation, his wife obtained a stay from the Telangana High Court on attempts to confiscate the properties of the proclaimed offender (PO). The PO had made several attempts including constantly changing locations, contact numbers, identities, etc. However, the CBI persistently pursued the leads and finally apprehended him from a village in Tamil Nadu, the CBI said in a press release. As per the information gathered by the CBI, Chalapathi Rao fled Salem in 2007 and changed his name to M. Vinit Kumar and married a woman. He had also got an Aadhaar card made. Through his second wife, CBI officials got information that he was in touch with his son from his first marriage. However, in 2014 he left Salem without informing anyone and reached Bhopal, where he worked as a loan recovery agent and then shifted to Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, where he worked in a school. When the CBI team reached Rudrapur to search for him, it was found that he had fled from the said place in 2016.

With the help of the email ID and Aadhaar details of the PO in the name of M. Vinit Kumar, the CBI contacted the Gmail law enforcement department. With these details, it was found that the PO had shifted to an ashram in Verul village in Aurangabad. It was also revealed that Chalapathi Rao had changed his name to Swami Vidhitatmananda Teertha and also got another Aadhaar card made. However, in December 2021 he left the said ashram where he had allegedly defrauded the ashram of Rs 70 lakh. Thereafter, he moved to Bharatpur in Rajasthan as Vidhitatmananda Teertha and stayed there till July 8, 2024. Thereafter he left Bharatpur and reached Tirunelveli to stay with one of his disciples. During this period, Chalapathi Rao changed contact numbers more than eight to ten times. It was also revealed that he was planning to flee to Sri Lanka via the sea route. Efforts by the CBI to trace him resulted in the arrest of the accused on August 4 from Narasinganallur village in Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu), where he was hiding. A well-coordinated and balanced efforts of the CBI team resulted in the successful locating and apprehending of the PO, who was absconding for almost two decades, evading the clutches of law. He was produced before the ld. on 04.08.2024 in the court of Special Judge for CBI cases at Hyderabad and has been remanded to judicial custody till 16th August. After this, the trial of the case will commence.