Gujarat police arrest fugitive wanted for tax evasion, illegal gambling deported from UAE

Ahmedabad, Sep 5 (PTI) The Gujarat police on Friday arrested a fugitive wanted for an alleged Rs 2,300 crore scam involving tax evasion, gambling, and money laundering after he was deported from the UAE in an operation coordinated by the CBI with the state police and Union Home and External Affairs ministries.

The state monitoring cell (SMC) of the Gujarat police took custody of Harshit Babulal Jain, who had an Interpol Red Notice against him, upon his arrival at the Ahmedabad Airport, said Nirlipt Rai, Deputy Inspector General of Police, SMC.

"The CBI got the Red Notice published against Harshit Babulal Jain through Interpol on August 9, 2023, on the request of the Gujarat Police. The subject was deported from the UAE and was handed over to the Gujarat Police at the Ahmedabad International Airport," the agency's spokesperson had said.

Speaking to reporters, Rai said Jain was the main accused wanted in a Rs 2,300 scam involving illegal betting, dabba trading, and gambling.

'Dabba trading’ refers to an illegal and unregulated form of trading in securities.

"In March 2025, the Ahmedabad police raided Jain's office in the Madhupura area and arrested four persons with 436 cheque books, 438 debit cards, 193 SIM cards and other materials, establishing their involvement in betting, gambling and dabba trading using these SIM cards and bank accounts," he said.

Investigations revealed that Jain and his associates had created bogus documents of firms to acquire SIM cards to run their illegal network, the senior officer said, adding that several gambling apps and IDs were also found on the seized computers.

Following the raid, a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy was registered against the accused, who fled to Dubai, he said.

"We found transactions of Rs 2,300 crore in the bank accounts operated by Jain and others. He was the main accused in the case. Before him, we have arrested 36 persons. On learning about his whereabouts, we coordinated with central agencies and sent an extradition proposal in 2023 to the UAE government, following which, he was deported on Friday," Rai said.

Jain will be produced before the court, and the police will seek his remand to find out how his entire network functioned, he said. PTI PJT ABS MNK ARU