Six-days on, Sontu still evading arrest

Lokmat News Network Nagpur

Alleged international bookie Anant Jain alias Sontu, who escaped arrest by the police, is learnt to be hiding with the help of other bookies and some of his relatives. It's been six days since Sontu fled from right under police's nose after the High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea. The police have deployed six teams to nab the alleged connman but failed to locate him till now. Meanwhile, the police have interrogated some people from Sontu's hometown of Gondia including a jeweller. All have so far denied having any knowledge of the fugitive. The jeweller is reported to be very close to Sontu as it was through him that he used to buy gold with money earned from cricket betting earnings. Most of the recovered gold was purchased from this bullion trader. He was interrogated throughout the day on Saturday.
 

On September 26, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court had canceled Sontu's interim bail. That day he was also seen in the High Court premises. After cross-examination, the court announced its verdict after the lunch break. After this Sontu left the court premises and reached the hotel where he was staying. After the lunch break, as soon as the interim bail was canceled by the High Court, he fled from the hotel in an autorickshaw.Even after a lot of searching, he was not found by the police. He changed three to four autos and went out of the city. After this he reached another state. Due to one mistake, the police missed the opportunity to catch Sontu. Sontu had switched off his mobile after reaching Nagpur on the evening of September 25. Because of this the police were on alert about his arrest but they failed to keep strict surveillance on him.
Apart from the fraud case another case has been registered against Sontu, his sister, brother-in-law and friend for threatening the victim Vikrant Aggarwal. In this case, he has got interim bail from the sessions court. During the hearing of this case on September 27, the police asked the court to direct Sontu to appear in the next hearing. On the basis of this, the sessions court directed Sontu to appear in the court during the hearing. However, Sontu's lawyer sought time to file a petition in the High Court against this decision. Sontu's cricket betting business extends to Dubai and London. Big bookies from many cities of the country are associated with him. With their help Sontu is in hiding. He also has deep knowledge of technology. That is how he defrauded Agarwal to the tune of `58 crore through an online cricket app.