23 years on, CBI gets woman deported from USA in ₹1.44 crore gold import scam

The CBI said Kapoor, proprietor of the Delhi-based firm M/s Monika Overseas, colluded with her brothers—Rajan Khanna and Rajeev Khanna—and forged export-related documents, including shipping bills, invoices, and bank certificates

MUMBAI: After more than two decades on the run, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has finally brought back businesswoman Monika Kapoor from the United States to face trial in a ₹1.44 crore gold import scam dating back to the late 1990s.

23 years on, CBI gets woman deported from USA in ₹1.44 crore gold import scam

Kapoor, now in CBI custody, had vanished soon after she was booked in 2002 for allegedly forging export documents and illegally selling import licences, causing massive losses to the government exchequer. Officials said she had been living in the US under the radar, even as Indian courts declared her a fugitive and issued a Red Corner Notice for her arrest.

A Red Corner Notice, also known as a Red Notice, is a request issued by Interpol to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

The CBI said Kapoor, proprietor of the Delhi-based firm M/s Monika Overseas, colluded with her brothers—Rajan Khanna and Rajeev Khanna—and forged export-related documents, including shipping bills, invoices, and bank certificates. On the strength of these fake papers, she obtained six Replenishment Licenses, a special kind of duty-free import licence meant for genuine exporters to replenish raw materials used in export production.

Instead of using the licences for legitimate imports, Kapoor allegedly sold them at a premium to an Ahmedabad-based firm, Deep Exports. That firm then used the licences to import duty-free gold worth ₹2.36 crore—cheating the government out of ₹1.44 crore in customs duties.

The scam unfolded in 1998, but the case was formally registered by the CBI only in 2002. After a lengthy investigation, a charge sheet was filed in 2004 against Kapoor and her brothers. In 2017, a Delhi court convicted Rajan and Rajeev, but Kapoor had already slipped out of the country and never joined the probe.

The court declared her a proclaimed offender in 2006 and issued an open non-bailable warrant against her in 2010. That same year, an Interpol Red Corner Notice was issued, prompting a worldwide hunt.

India formally requested Kapoor’s extradition from the US in October 2010. Years of back-channel negotiations and legal processes followed before US authorities finally handed her over. A CBI team travelled to the US to take custody of Kapoor and escort her back to India, marking the end of her long flight from justice.

“This extradition marks a major breakthrough in the pursuit of justice,” a senior CBI official said. “It sends a strong message that no fugitive can escape the law forever—international boundaries are no bar.”

Kapoor will reach Delhi via a flight around 10.30 pm tonight, agency sources said.