Rs 58 crore online gaming fraud
Nagpur: The Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) G N Bagrodia in Nagpur on Friday rejected a regular bail application filed by Dr Gaurav Bagga, Ankesh Khandelwal and Dinesh Kothari, accused in the Rs 58 crore online gaming fraud.
The prosecution cited in the court that the accused are close aides of prime accused online gaming fraudster Sontu alias Ananth Navratan Jain and instrumental in hiding his ill-gotten wealth. The recovery of crores of rupees is still pending from the accused. They also told the court that the accused could tamper the evidence if their application of bail is allowed.
The counsels for the applicants opposed the claim of the prosecution and argued for the bail. After hearing both sides, the Judge G N Bagrodia rejected the bail application of the accused. Investigation Officer and Police Inspector Mayur Chaurasia and APP Kolhe represented the state while Advs Devendra Chouhan, Prakash Jaiswal, Prakash Naidu and Dipesh Mehta appeared for the accused persons.
It may be mentioned here that Sontu Jain collaborated with Dr Bagga, Khandelwal and Kothari in a conspiracy. 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 DrBagga’s lockers, Khandelwal and Dr Bagga handed the valuables to Kothari July 30. On October 20, the Nagpur police raided the house of Dr Bagga and seized 3 kilograms of gold, found from a well, and Rs 1.35 crore in cash.
