New Delhi, Aug. 15 -- Jatin Mehta knew exactly when his game was up. Between August and November 2012, he quietly stepped down from his key companies, Forever Precious and Winsome Diamonds & Jewellery. The timing was telling. Winsome, the diamond and jewellery exporter he had built into a market leader, was teetering on the edge of financial collapse. Its lenders had already sensed trouble and were closing in.

Mehta timed his exit to perfection, leaving India with his family just as defaults began cascading across the banks that had financed his empire. By 2014, he had acquired citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis, placing himself well beyond India's easy extradition reach.

Few white-collar fugitives have planned their escape with such ...