Who is Monika Kapoor, extradited by CBI from US? Why was she absconding?
Being brought to India on an American Airlines flight, Monika Kapoor is set to face trial in a ₹1.44 crore gold import scam case.
A team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday took custody of Monika Kapoor, an economic offender, from the United States, in what the probe agency described as a "major breakthrough".
Being brought to India on an American Airlines flight, Kapoor is set to face trial in a ₹1.44 crore gold import scam case.
She had been absconding since 1999, and a case was registered against her for allegedly forging export documents and illegally selling import licences.
Why Monika Kapoor was on the run
Monika Kapoor is the proprietor of a Delhi-based firm named M/s Monika Overseas. She is accused of forging export-related documents, including shipping bills, invoices, and bank certificates, with help from her brothers Rajan Khanna and Rajeev Khanna.
The documents were forged for jewellery transactions, and were later used to secure six Replenishment Licenses, duty-free import permits intended for legitimate exporters to replace raw materials used in manufacturing goods for export.
Kapoor then allegedly sold the licences to an Ahmedabad-based company, Deep Exports, at a premium, a CBI spokesperson said. The company then used these licences to import gold without paying customs duty, resulting in a loss of approximately ₹1.44 crore (around $679,000) to the government exchequer.
While her brothers were convicted in 2017, the CBI had been making efforts to catch hold of Monika since 2002, when the probe agency launched an investigation in the matter.
CBI breakthrough after two decades
The CBI had been probing Monika Kapoor since 2002, and two years later, filed a charge sheet against her and her brothers for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery.
She was declared a proclaimed offender on February 13, 2006.
Under the bilateral extradition treaty between India and the US, a district court of New York cleared her extradition in 2012, two years after the CBI sought it.
Despite Monika Kapoor's appeals in the US against the move, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the extradition in March 2025.
Over three months later, Monika Kapoor has been extradited to India.
