Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail application of Dr Garima Bagga, wife of Dr Gaurav Bagga, who is a co-accused in the Sontu Jain online gaming scam. Dr Garima was seeking anticipatory bail in connection with crime registered with Gittikhadan police for offences punishable under Sections 409 and 420 read with Section 120-B of the IPC.
The bench of Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke turned down the application moved by Dr Garima stating that considering the role of the applicant in the crime, having involved enormous and huge amount, the accusations and its gravity the application deserved to be rejected.
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As per the FIR the co-accused Anant alias Sontu Navratan Jain insisted the informant for betting in online gaming. The complainant handed over cash amount of Rs. 8.50 lakh to the person sent by Sontu upon which he got a link of diamondexc.com and also User ID and Password. The informant started betting by playing on-line game. On losing in betting the complainant transferred Rs. 9.66 crore during the period from November 18, 2021 to July 13 2023 to the bank account suggested by Sontu. There are allegations of manipulation in online betting site.
During investigation, the Crime Detection Branch directed the Gondia branch of the Axis Bank to freeze the accounts of Sontu Jain and his family members. The prosecution alleged that Sontu and another accused Ankesh Khandelwal, Bank Manager hatched a conspiracy to shift the valuables in the lockers. The applicant and her husband Dr Gaurav then transferred the said articles to another person Dinesh Kothari at the behest of Sontu Jain.
The defence counsel submitted that the applicant is the Assistant Professor in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Her husband is already arrested and she has a daughter who is five years old. Considering the allegations made against her, her direct involvement is not revealed. Her custody is also not required as the articles are already recovered.
On the other hand, the Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that the Dr Garima and her husband opened a new joint locker and got transferred all the articles lying in the locker of the co-accused Anant Jain and his family members. Collected CCTV footage from the bank also shows her presence in the bank at the relevant time with bags. Also gold biscuits are seized from the house of the accused were found from the Baggas residence.
While disposing of the application, the bench rejected Dr Garima’s anticipatory bail. Adv Sunil Manohar, Sr Adv Akshay Naik represented the applicant. APP Adv V A Thakare appeared for the State.
