Knife-swallowing Indian fraudster extradited from Germany

Aug 27, 2007, 7:16 GMT

New Delhi - Implicated for defrauding an Indian public bank for 2.6 million dollars and swallowing a knife to prevent his extradition, Amarendra Nath Ghosh was brought back to the country from Germany by Indian authorities on Monday to face legal proceedings.

A special Indian Air Force air plane was used to bring the 46-year-old Ghosh from Munich after German authorities gave the go-ahead to Indian officials after five years of legal proceedings.

'German authorities were committed for his extradition despite serious issues like him swallowing the knife. Such cooperation should be a lesson to law offenders that the globe is shrinking by the day for criminals, particularly economic offenders and terrorists,' CBI Director Vijay Shanker told news agency PTI.

Ghosh, who swallowed a knife to prevent his extradition to India from Germany in cases of bank fraud, was ordered to be deported in 2003.

German authorities did not hand over Ghosh to India's top federal investigative agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), due to the presence of an eight-centimetre knife in his stomach, a situation that can turn fatal due to travelling.

After swallowing the knife Ghosh did not give permission for surgery, citing German laws that say that no patient can be operated upon without his or her approval.

German legal authorities agreed to release Ghoch after officials of CBI and India's Ministry of External Affairs gave assurance that he would be flown back to India under strict observation of doctors.

The CBI had filed charges against Ghosh in 2001 for entering into a criminal conspiracy, from 1992-1996, with a senior manager of a public Allahabad Bank in India, and getting banker's cheques worth 2.6 million dollars issued in the name of fictitious persons.

Ghosh, who will now be tried by Indian courts, was declared a proclaimed offender in April 2002, and was arrested by Interpol in Munich.

He's facing an inquiry in three other cases where 3.9 million dollars had allegedly been swindled, and is also wanted by the United Arab Emirates on charges of financial fraud.