Online gaming fraud case: Nagpur police seize 2.4 kg gold, Rs 70 lakh cash during raids in Gondia

Nagpur: The police in Maharashtra's Nagpur probing the case of an online gaming fraud on Friday conducted searches at six locations in Gondia district and recovered 2.4 kg gold and Rs 70 lakh from one of these places belonging to a doctor, a top official said.

A similar operation is also being conducted at the residence of a bank employee in neighbouring Bhandara district, but nothing has been seized from there so far, he said.

Addressing a press conference, Nagpur Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar said the raids at these seven locations - six in Gondia and one in Bhandara - are part of an investigation into an online gaming fraud worth Rs 58 crore.

The action comes days after Gondia resident Anant alias Sontu Navratan Jain, accused of duping a Nagpur-based businessman of Rs 58 crore in the online gaming fraud, surrendered after being on the run for almost three months. Jain had created the online gaming platform.

"The police raided six premises in Gondia and seized 2.4 kilograms of gold and Rs 70 lakh cash from the house of one Dr Gaurav Bagga. The remaining five properties belong to some other persons," the police commissioner said.

"The operation in Bhandara is being conducted at the residence of a bank employee, and nothing has been seized from that place till now," he said.

Following the recovery of the valuables during the operation on Friday, a fresh case was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) at the Gittikhadan police station in Nagpur, he said.

The investigation into the case was initiated after Nagpur-based businessman Vikrant Agrawal filed a complaint in July this year, alleging that he had been defrauded of Rs 58 crore by an online gaming platform. The complainant claimed the gaming results had been manipulated, which led to substantial financial losses to him.

After that, the police raided Jain's residence in Gondia, where they seized cash and gold worth Rs 26.39 crore on July 22. In a follow-up operation on August 1, the police opened lockers of Jain and his family members, resulting in the recovery of cash and gold worth Rs 4.54 crore, the CP said.

"Before the police could access the bank lockers belonging to his family, Jain allegedly conspired with the bank's official Ankesh Khandelwal and Dr Gaurav Bagga and his wife, all residents of Gondia. On July 27, three bank lockers were opened in the name of Dr Bagga, and cash and gold from the Jain family's lockers were transferred into these newly-opened lockers," he said.

The accused later removed the cash and gold from these three lockers and took it to unidentified locations, the CP added.

The police had earlier said that Jain convinced complainant Agrawal to explore online gaming as a lucrative avenue for earning quick profits. Following the latter's complaint, the police raided Jain's residence in Gondia in July and seized Rs 17 crore in cash, 14 kg of gold and 294 kg of silver, collectively worth Rs 27 crore.

Subsequently, on August 2, authorities discovered an additional Rs 85 lakh in cash and gold valued at more than Rs 4.5 crore stored in bank lockers belonging to Jain and his family members.

Jain, who had fled just before police raided his residence in Gondia city, 160km away from Nagpur, a few months ago and later went to Dubai, surrendered before the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) here on October 16.