Cops take Sontu’s custody
   Date :19-Nov-2023

Sontu’s custody 
 
 
 
Staff Reporter
On-line gaming fraudster Sontu alias Ananth Navratan Jain was arrested by the City police again on the production warrant to grill him about shifting of Rs 12 crore and gold ornaments to unknown place. Sontu was in the jail after court ordered his magesterial custody following an FIR lodged against him. The second FIR was lodged against Sontu Jain for hatching conspiracy with Dr Bagga, Khandelwal and Kothari. They devised a plan that involved opening three new lockers in Dr Gaurav Bagga’s name in the same branch of Axis Bank in Gondia and transferred crores of rupees and gold from the Jain family lockers to the newly established lockers of Dr Bagga. After successfully moving the gold and cash into Dr Bagga’s lockers, Khandelwal and Dr Bagga handed the valuables to Kothari July 30. On October 20, the City police raided the house of Dr Bagga and seized 3 kilograms of gold, found from a well, and Rs 1.35 crore in cash.
 
The police have arrested Sontu in this case and produced in the court which remanded him to police custody till November 23. A police official said that Sontu would be subjected to interrogation to ascertain where he had hid the cash and gold ornaments. The investigation into this online gaming fraud case commenced when Vikrant Agrawal filed a complaint, alleging that he had been defrauded of a staggering Rs 58 crore by the gaming platform. Agrawal claimed that the gaming results had been manipulated, resulting in substantial financial losses for him. As part of their investigative efforts, the police conducted several raids; On July 22, the police raided Sontu's residence in Gondia, where they seized Rs 17 crore in cash, 14 kg of gold, and 294 kg of silver, with a combined worth of Rs 27 crore. A total of Rs 40 crore have been seized from Sontu and his accomplices by the police so far.