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New Delhi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deported Indian national Harshit Babulal Jain, the prime accused in a Rs 2,300 crore fraud involving illegal betting and money laundering, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced.

In a statement posted on X, the CBI said Jain was brought back to Ahmedabad on September 5 and handed over to Gujarat Police at the international airport. The agency added that the operation was carried out in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and UAE authorities.

Interpol had issued a Red Notice against Jain in August 2023 at the request of Gujarat Police. He fled to Dubai after a raid at Sumil Complex in Ahmedabad in March 2023, where investigators uncovered evidence of a high-value betting racket allegedly linked to the Mahadev syndicate.

DIG Nirlipta Rai of the State Monitoring Cell (SMC) was quoted by The New Indian Express as saying that Jain was the key accused in the betting racket and had routed around Rs 2,300 crore through multiple accounts.

Rai added that Rs 9.62 crore spread across 481 accounts has been frozen, while more than 1,500 accounts were connected to the network. She confirmed that Jain was traced to Dubai after an Interpol alert and deported following a formal proposal sent in December 2023.

The crackdown has so far led to 37 arrests, with lookout notices issued against eight other suspects. Police seized laptops, mobile phones, debit cards, company seals and a Velocity Server running MetaTrader software, which was allegedly used to disguise betting transactions as stock trades.

The CBI noted that over 100 fugitives have been repatriated to India in recent years through Interpol coordination, with several deportations carried out from the Gulf region.