Nagpur: A team of Nagpur police on Wednesday raided the house of a hawala trader in Shanti Nagar in connection with a probe into Sontu alias Ananth Navratan Jain fraud case . During the searches, the cops detected documents pointing to hawala transactions of Rs 11.80 crore.
According to media reports, the searches were conducted at the residence of Anwesh alias Awkash Jain at Tulsi Nagar, Shanti Nagar. He is said to be a crucial link in Rs 58 crore online gaming fraud. The cops reportedly seized incriminating documents showing huge hawala transactions between fraudster Sontu and complainant Vikrant Agrawal.
The reports further said that the hawala transactions took place in the past 3 years adding that documentary evidence was seized during the searches. Incidentally, the wife of Jain is a Chartered Accountant.
Anwesh Jain, as per reports, used to accept hawala money from Agrawal and then transfer it to Sontu Jain after booking his profits on the money transactions. The new evidence would play a pivotal role in building the case against fraudster Sontu.
Sontu Jain, along with his family members and relatives, were on the run after the police had raided his Gondia house on July 22, and seized Rs 17 crore in cash, 14 kg of gold, and 294 kg of silver, a combined haul of Rs 27 crore. On August 2, Rs 85 lakh cash and gold worth over Rs 4.5 crore were found in the bank lockers of Sontu and his family members.
Meanwhile, according to a report, Ganeshpeth police have registered one more First Information Report (FIR) against online gaming fraudster Sontu Navratan Jain, and his family members for threatening the complainant in the Rs 58 crore fraud case to withdraw the complaint. A case under Sections 452, 195 (a), 385 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Ganeshpeth Police Station against Sontu Jain, a resident of Gondia; his sister Astha Jain, Astha’s brother in-law Vinay and Astha’s female friend Ruby Jain, all residents of Kolkata, West Bengal.
Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar said such activities of hampering police investigation would not be tolerated and the culprits would be dealt with an iron hand. According to police, the incident happened on September 2 at 10.15 pm when Astha, Vinay and Ruby hatched a criminal conspiracy and visited the house of complainant Vikrant Vijay kumar Agrawal (48), a resident of Godrej Anandam, Ganeshepth. The accused allegedly told Agrawal they came to his house on behalf of Sontu Jain. Astha tried to convince Agrawal she was like his sister and tied a Rakhi on his wrist.
Soon after, the accused persons pressured Agrawal to withdraw the complaint and even told Agrawal that they could manage everything through the money. The three left the house at around 2 am, said police.
Meanwhile, Sontu was grilled by the Commissioner of Police himself on Tuesday. However, the fraudster remained elusive on the questions regarding involvement of other bookies. Despite evidence of Call Detail Records of Sontu cited by the police, the accused tried to shield himself by saying he was not aware of anything. The city police have also discovered names of the businessman, bookies and hawala traders of Nagpur, Gondia and Kolkata and they are likely to be quizzed about their involvement in the multi-crore fraud, said the top cop.
