Sterling Biotech director at the centre of Rs 5000-crore bank fraud may have fled to Nigeria: Report

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Nitin Sandesara, absconding director of a Gujarat-based pharmaceuticals firm Sterling Biotech, which is being probed in a Rs 5,000 crore fraud case, may have fled to Nigeria, according to a report by The Times of India.

Sandesara was arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in August, based on a non-bailable arrest warrant issued by an Indian court. However, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), he is not in there and may have fled, the report states.

“There were reports that Nitin Sandesara was detained by UAE authorities in Dubai in the second week of August. The information was incorrect. He was never detained in Dubai. He and other family members probably left for Nigeria much before that,” an official told the newspaper.

Sandesara’s brother Chetan Sandesara and sister-in-law Dipti Sandesara are also believed to be hiding in Nigeria, the report adds.

CBI had booked Vadodara-based Sterling Biotech, its directors Chetan Sandesara, Dipti Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and former Andhra Bank director Anup Garg and a few others in connection with an alleged Rs 5,000-crore bank fraud case.

It is alleged that the company took loans of over Rs 5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank which had turned into non-performing assets.

As per the FIR, the total pending dues of the group of companies were Rs 5,383 crore as on December 31, 2016. The ED has taken the FIR into cognisance. Multiple prosecution complaints or charge sheets have also been filed by it before a special court.

It had also attached assets worth over Rs 4,700 crore of the pharmaceutical firm in June.

(With PTI inputs)