PANJIM: A Goa Police team led by Police Sub Inspector Anant Gaonkar arrested suspect Vibho Khanna from Noida on Friday evening for the alleged murder of bookie Lakhpat Jain. Jain was found dead in Goa in the first week of April. Police have now confirmed that he was a bookie, a regular at Casino Pride and dealt with large amounts of cash. After his likely murder, over three lakhs of cash was found in his hotel room at Neo Majestic, where he literally lived, along with a laptop which had loaded software used by most bookies to accept bets. Jain was killed at the start of the IPL season though there is no confirmation that the killing was directly related to the IPL betting. Jain was seen on board Casino Pride on the night of the suspected murder by eyewitnesses, including one Anuradha Kapoor, who is believed to be one of the possible suspects, according to the police.
Panjim Police Inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai told Herald that they are looking for two more female suspects in the murder case. The team had gone to Delhi as part of the investigations.
“Rs 3.72 lakh cash along with one laptop was seized by us from a room at the Neo Majestic where Jain was staying. The software which is usually used by cricket bookies was installed on the laptop. We will be sending it for forensic check up soon” Prabhudesai, said.
The Panjim PI has said that the chips of Casino Pride which was with the deceased were missing along with other gold articles and some cash at the time of the panchanama.
Lakhpat Jain (56) who died under mysterious circumstance was a cricket bookie and was arrested for accepting bets on Champions League T-20 cricket by Porvorim police in the year 2013 from Neo Majestic, a hotel run by the Casino Pride group.
Porvorim Police Inspector Brendon D’ Souza confirmed that arrest saying: “This is the same Jain who was arrested by Porvorim police. He was murdered in Panjim early this month” he said when asked whether he was the same man.
Khanna’s cousin, Anuradha Kapoor who also present on Casino Pride on the day when murder took place told Herald on phone from Delhi that Jain was a regular visitor to Casino Pride and he was part of the VVIP list and he used to get top clients to Casino Pride. “He was heavily into cricket betting”, she told Herald. She obviously knew Lakhpat Jain.
She also alleged that Goa Police in Delhi are harassing her and her cousin without any reason, “Goa police detained my cousin on April 22 and only sought his remand on April 24. Before that he was illegally detained”.
“I am ready to depose before investigating agency, I am ready to cooperate with them, I am ready to come to Goa tomorrow but don’t act like the way they have acted with my cousin” Kapoor said.
Kapoor has informed that she been on Casino Pride even after the murder took place on April 3, “We are being falsely implicated in the murder by Panjim police” she alleged.
