The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested a proclaimed offender in connection with a long-pending financial fraud case involving the alleged embezzlement of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) funds worth ₹6.37 crore, officials said on Wednesday.
According to an official CBI statement, the accused, Sameer Joshi, was apprehended from a Metro station in Lucknow on Tuesday and produced before the trial court concerned, which remanded him to judicial custody the same day.
The CBI said the case was originally registered on August 13, 2012, following a complaint from LIC, Lucknow, alleging large-scale misappropriation of funds at the Jankipuram branch between February 2006 and August 2010.
The embezzlement allegedly involved preparing forged cheques for fraudulent LIC policy claims in the names of non-existent policyholders, diverting the proceeds, and falsifying books of accounts to conceal the offence, the agency said. The total fraud amount under investigation was pegged at ₹6,37,66,660.
CBI officials said that, after completing the investigation, a charge sheet was filed on August 21, 2014, against 12 accused, including Joshi.
Officials said Joshi allegedly conspired with Pankaj Saxena, then a higher-grade assistant with LIC, to prepare fake LIC cheques in his name, as well as in the names of his wife Anju Joshi and his employee Jitendra Kumar. The proceeds from the forged cheques, totalling nearly ₹62 lakh, were allegedly encashed and shared among the accused.
Officials said Joshi had been arrested during the investigation earlier and was later granted bail. However, he subsequently jumped bail and remained absconding for several years. He was declared a proclaimed offender on December 24, 2025.
“On the basis of information gathered through sources, the CBI located and apprehended the accused from a Metro station in Lucknow on Tuesday,” the agency said. The arrest is expected to revive proceedings in the fraud case. Further legal proceedings are underway.
