Nagpur: In a startling turn of events, the elusive online gaming fraudster known as Ananth alias Sontu Navratan Jain managed to evade the clutches of the Nagpur police and escape from Dubai, reportedly with the assistance of the notorious cricket bookie, Indu. The escape has thrown law enforcement agencies into disarray as they scramble to apprehend the fugitive and apprehend those responsible for his successful getaway.
Local media reports claimed that Indu, one of the major cricket bookies, was in contact with Sontu for the last few years. He was instrumental in setting up the bogus business of online gaming fraud. Sontu was accused in a Rs 58 crore online gaming fraud case. A staggering Rs 17 crore in cash, 14 kg of gold and 294 kg of silver, collectively worth Rs 27 crore, were seized from Sontu’s house in Gondia on July 23.
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As the Nagpur police were conducting relentless searches to apprehend Sontu, the fraudster approached Indu to get some relief. Reports claimed that Indu was using his political contacts to save Sontu from the action. Recently, Indu had organised a party for Nagpur-based bookies at a lawn in Kalamna area which was raided by the city police. Within 48 hours, Indu had again organised a party in the limits of Rural police.
It may be mentioned here that Sontu, after defrauding the rice trader, managed to evade the police dragnet by fleeing to Dubai on a tourist visa for a month. Following this discovery, the police had issued a look-out circular, leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of the fugitive. So far, the investigation has unveiled that Sontu had borrowed large sums of money from thirteen of his acquaintances, some of whom were close friends. The police are now probing the reason behind these financial transactions, investigating whether the loans were genuine or not.
Sontu’s family members, relatives and friends mysteriously disappeared from their residences and they are not responding to City police’s notices. The fraud came to light after a victim approached the police. The businessman had affection for gambling. Sontu allegedly convinced the victim to gamble on his online gaming application, providing him with a username ID and password after taking an initial amount of Rs 8.50 lakh.
He had borrowed substantial sums from friends and relatives to fund his gambling habit. However, he later realized that the application was designed to manipulate results, ensuring that the player always lost. Feeling cheated and desperate to recoup his losses, the businessman demanded Sontu to return his money, but the latter refused.
Sontu had even threatened the victim to kill him if he would not repay the remaining amount of Rs 40 lakh. Somehow, the victim managed Rs 40 lakh from friends and transferred to Sontu through a hawala trader last week. Depressed over the deteriorating financial situation, the victim attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills. Finally, the police registered the case on the complaint of the victim.
