On September 1, 2026, the Mangalore city Crime Branch (CCB) announced the arrest of Sam Peter, a 64‑year‑old fraudster who had been hiding for almost three years after failing to appear in court.
Police identified Peter as a resident of Lucknow who originally hails from Alappuzha in Kerala. He repeatedly claimed to be a director or senior officer of the National Criminal Investigation Bureau, using that false identity to convince victims that he could resolve their financial, banking or tax disputes for a fee.
The investigation traced a gang of eight members that operated from a lodge in Pumpwell. On August 16, 2019, CCB officers conducted a raid, detaining Peter and his associates. Although the court later granted bail, Peter ignored subsequent summons and vanished, remaining at large for nearly three years.
Authorities discovered that Peter employed more than a dozen aliases, including Dani Tarakan, Anthony, Rahul Peter, Rajesh Robinson, Ritu Richard, Roy Jacob, Robin Richardson, Robin Sun, Antonio Prancis, Sharoon Prancis and others. Interpol issued a red‑corner notice against him in 2001 under the name Rahul Peter.
Warrants issued by the Ullal and East police stations in Mangalore list 17 and 14 separate notices respectively. Cases linked to Peter span Karnataka districts such as Mangalore East, Ullal, Konaje, Chickballapur, Bangalore, Udupi and Kushalanagar, as well as states including Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Following the recent operation, the suspect was handed over to the Mangalore East police station for further legal action. The CCB unit and supporting staff were credited with locating and apprehending the elusive fraudster after an extensive multi‑state pursuit.
Image for illustration purposes only
📰 Source: Vartha Bharati DK