The City Police have started a process to declare Montu alias Dheeraj Jain a ‘proclaimed absconder’ and formed three special teams to arrest him. Montu Jain is the elder brother of on-line gaming fraudster Sontu alias Ananth Navrathan Jain and co-accused in Rs 58 crore on-line gaming fraud. A top ranking police official said that the special teams are instructed to identify the location of Montu Jain and his family members who are co-accused in the fraud case. The special teams are conducting searches in Gondia, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to apprehend Montu Jain. Montu was booked as co-accused in the fraud case after crores of rupees were recovered from his bank lockers in Gondia during the searches by city police on August 1.

 

The official claimed that Montu was found in constant touch with prime accused Sontu Jain when he was evading arrest. Similarly, Sontu had purchased many properties through the ill-gotten money in the name of family members. The investigating officers wanted custody of the accused to interrogate them about money-trails. Last phone location of Montu was found in Rajasthan where his relatives are staying. A special police team has been dispatched for Rajasthan to nab Montu, the official claimed. The senior police officials are also working out a strategy to issue a look out circular against Montu Jain, he said. Meanwhile, the police submitted a formal request to the Union Government to block the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) ‘www.diamondexch. com.’ This website has been at the center of on-line gaming fraud operations orchestrated by Sontu Jain and Rakesh Rajkot.

 

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.

 

On August 2, the police discovered an additional Rs 85 lakh in cash and gold valued at over Rs 4.5 crore stored in bank lockers belonging to Sontu and his family members. On October 23, police recovered 3.25 kg of gold from the house of Bunty, also known as Dinesh Maheshchandra Kothari, in Gondia. On October 20, police seized 3 kilograms of gold found in a well, and Rs 1.35 crore in cash from the house of Dr Gaurav Bagga.