The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has denied interim pre-arrest bail to on-line gaming fraudster Sontu alias Ananth Navratan Jain from Gondia. Sontu is accused of engineering a massive gaming fraud and duping a Nagpur resident tof Rs 58 crore. Justice M W Chandwani presided over the proceedings and cited the immense scope of the case as a crucial factor in rejecting Sontu’s pre-arrest bail application. The High Court determined that Sontu’s immediate arrest was necessary for evidence collection and information gathering by the investigation agency. During the hearing, Sontu's legal team requested an extension of the interim bail to approach the Supreme Court. However, this plea was also denied by the High Court.

 

This decision comes after the High Court had reserved judgment on the bail application following a thorough examination of arguments presented by all parties involved. Sontu had initially been granted interim pre-arrest bail on September 5, with orders to appear before the police on every alternate day. However, on Tuesday, Sontu failed to make the scheduled appearance before the police. Investigating Officer (IO) and Police Inspector Shubhangi Deshmukh brought this matter to the Court’s attention.

 

Sontu’s fraud came to fore after the Nagpur Police raided his Gondia house on July 22, and 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, Rs 85 lakh cash and gold worth over Rs 4.5 crore were found in the bank lockers of Sontu and his family members. The investigation into this on-line gaming fraud case started when a Nagpur-based businessman approached the police, claiming to have been duped of Rs 58 crore by Sontu’s gaming platform. He alleged that the results were manipulated, leading to substantial financial losses. Adv Shrirang Bhandarkar appeared for the complainant while Adv Devendra Chavan represented the accused.