International fraudster extradited from US; duped govt of Rs 54 cr

New Delhi, Jul 4 (UNI) International fraudster Narendra Kumar Rastogi, involved in duping the government of India of nearly Rs 54 crores and being extradited from the US today, will face trial in 13 cases here and Mumbai.

Rastogi is being brought from New York and is expected to reach Mumbai tonight, according to the CBI here. ''He will be produced in the Designated CBI Court at Mumbai tomorrow,'' the agency said.

Narendra Kumar Rastogi, along with his brother Ravindra, Virendra, Subhash Chand and cousin Rakesh had cheated the government to the tune of Rs 54 crores between 1989-92.

They had obtained 40 import licenses for importing Zinc, Zinc Oxide, Copper sheet, Copper Foil and Brass Scrap among other things and later in connivance with Customs officials duped the government of Rs 13 crore by falsely showing fulfillment of their export obligations of around Rs 75.74 crore on the basis of forged Bills of Entries and other customs documents.

They also, in mid nineties, floated 14 firms and showed export of bicycle parts to Russia and Hong Kong, after grossly over invoicing them for claiming undue and wrongful duty drawback.

Investigations revealed that the fake firms floated by them falsely showed several over invoiced exports to a US based firm -- M/s Allied Deals Inc. -- of which Narendra Kumar Rastogi was the Chief Executive Officer. These consignments were instead sent to various parties in Russia and Hong Kong.

The Rastogi Brothers later absconded to Dubai, US, UK and Singapore after committing the crime.

Of them, Subhash Chand Rastogi, who had stealthily came to India from Singapore, was arrested from NOIDA (UP) on September 8, 2001 after a dramatic chase.

Ravindra was later deported from Dubai on February 11, 2003. He is presently on bail.

Rakesh, still missing, has been declared a Proclaimed Offender.

Narendra, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on May 14, 2002 in connection with a major Bank fraud in US where he had cheated several Banks to the tune of 70 million US dollars.

He pleaded guilty to all charges on December 12, 2003 and was sentenced to 84 months imprisonment.

US authorities later informed the CBI that Rastogi would be completing his term in June, 2008 and after concerted efforts the CBI secured his extradition today.

The extradition request of Virendra Kumar Rastogi, sentenced to nine years and six months imprisonment last month for a fraud involving 700 million US dollars, to the UK government is pending before a competent court, the CBI added.

UNI AN AE RK1958