Chennai: After two decades of evading justice, a notorious swindler has been apprehended by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The individual, identified as V Chalapathi Rao, was arrested in Narsinganallur village, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, on Sunday. Rao had been living under various aliases, including as a spiritual guru, to elude capture.
Rao’s journey through the legal system began in 2002 when the CBI registered a case against him. At the time, Rao was employed as a computer operator at the State Bank of India (SBI), Chandulal Biradari Branch in Hyderabad. He was accused of embezzling ₹50 lakh from the bank through fabricated electronic shop quotations and fake salary certificates. Rao reportedly misappropriated the funds using identities created in the names of family members and close associates.
Over the past 20 years, Rao’s attempts to evade the law included a series of elaborate deceptions. In 2006, two chargesheets were filed against him, but Rao continued to elude capture. His family even attempted to declare him dead seven years after he went missing. Rao created a new identity under the name M Vineet Kumar, married again in Salem, and continued to evade the authorities.
Rao’s first wife, who was also implicated in the fraud case, filed an FIR at Kamatipura Police Station on July 10, 2004. She subsequently sought a court order declaring him deceased. The Civil Court in Hyderabad issued a decree based on her petition. Meanwhile, Rao was declared a proclaimed offender by the CBI.
The CBI’s investigation revealed that Rao had lived under several identities and moved frequently. In 2014, he was traced to Bhopal, where he worked as a loan recovery agent before moving to Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, to work in a school. Despite efforts by the CBI, Rao managed to slip through their grasp and continued his evasion tactics.
The agency’s pursuit of Rao took a new turn when they sought assistance from Gmail’s department to trace his new identity linked to an Aadhaar card. This led to his identification as Swamy Vidhitatmanand Teertha at an ashram in Verul village, Aurangabad. Despite posing as a spiritual leader, Rao allegedly defrauded the ashram of ₹70 lakh before fleeing to Bharatpur, Rajasthan, in December 2021. In Bharatpur, he lived as an ascetic until July 8, 2024.
Rao’s ongoing attempts to evade justice included changing his phone numbers frequently and planning an escape to Sri Lanka by sea. However, his plans were thwarted when the CBI received information about his whereabouts in Narsinganallur village. He was arrested while staying with one of his disciples, just as he was preparing to flee to Sri Lanka.
Rao’s arrest marks the end of a protracted and complex manhunt, highlighting the persistence of law enforcement in bringing fugitives to justice, regardless of their attempts to evade the law.