New Delhi, Nov. 24 -- The Supreme Court has agreed to drop all criminal proceedings against fugitive businessmen Nitin and Chetan Sandesara, promoters of Sterling Biotech Ltd and Sterling SEZ & Infrastructure Ltd, for a Rs.5,100-crore settlement in a bank fraud case.

The billionaire brothers, who built a small tea-trading business into a diversified conglomerate, fled the country in 2017 after being accused of defrauding Indian banks of more than $1.7 billion. They were later included in the list of 14 fugitive economic offenders in 2018, along with Kingfisher Airlines' founder, Vijay Mallya, and diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

A bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi approved the settlement in a 19 November order...