CBI Secures Extradition of Fugitive Munawar Khan from Kuwait

Chennai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has successfully secured the return of fugitive Munawar Khan, wanted in a major forgery and cheating case involving the Bank of Baroda in 2011, through coordinated efforts with INTERPOL and Kuwaiti authorities.

Khan, accused of defrauding the bank of ₹3.5 crore, was escorted by Kuwait Police and flown to India, landing at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, on Thursday. He was handed over to officials of the CBI’s Special Task Branch (STB), Chennai, and subsequently produced before the CBI court in Hyderabad, which remanded him to judicial custody.

According to investigators, Khan fled to Kuwait shortly after the fraud and was declared a proclaimed offender. The CBI had registered a case against him and six others on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery. While Khan evaded arrest, the other six— including a government servant—were convicted in 2022 and sentenced to three-and-a-half years of rigorous imprisonment, CBI sources said.

Kuwait authorities later arrested Khan and agreed to extradite him to India. “This return was made possible through close coordination between the International Police Cooperation Unit (IPCU) of CBI, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and the National Central Bureau (NCB)-Kuwait,” the agency said in a statement.

The CBI noted that INTERPOL Red Notices play a vital role in alerting global law enforcement agencies about fugitives. As India’s designated National Central Bureau for INTERPOL, the CBI coordinates with domestic agencies through the BHARATPOL platform. Officials highlighted that over 130 fugitives have been brought back to India in recent years under this mechanism.