Netflix introduced Satish Sanpal to millions as one of Dubai's richest Indians—a businessman who spoke of a $3 billion fortune against the backdrop of the Burj Khalifa and Rolls Royce. A certified judicial order from Jabalpur now records a very different public record: an alleged IPL betting investigation that remains open because, the court says, his arrest "could not be secured" while he stayed outside India.
The order, dated 27 April 2026 and not previously reported, was passed by First Additional Sessions Judge Manish Singh Thakur, dismissing Sanpal's revision petition (Criminal Revision No. 234/2026) against a magistrate's refusal of bail. BW Businessworld has verified the 14-page order against the certified copy on the Jabalpur district court's server (CNR MP20010164782026). Quotations are translated from the Hindi original.
Separately, a Look-Out Circular opened against Sanpal at the instance of the Superintendent of Police, Jabalpur, in August 2022 remains in force — its existence confirmed by the Delhi High Court on 4 February 2026 in a writ petition Sanpal himself filed, and not vacated since. The circular requires immigration authorities at every Indian airport and border post to stop him the moment he enters the country and alert the Jabalpur police.
The court's bail refusal is striking because the offences involved are bailable — a category in which, as the order itself acknowledges citing the Supreme Court, bail "may be demanded as a matter of right." Sanpal could not obtain it for one reason, running through the order: the court has never had physical access to him.
What the order records
According to the prosecution case recorded in the order, two men arrested during the raid allegedly told police they had "received the link from Satish Sanpal and Dilip Khatri." The allegation remains untested at trial, is denied by Sanpal, and the court makes no finding on its correctness.
The matter began on 23 May 2022, when Kotwali police raided a first-floor shop in Jabalpur's Gopal Arcade and found two men running bets on IPL cricket matches through software called TEAM 777. Police seized ₹7,44,000 in cash, 12 chequebooks, 12 ATM cards, computers, four phones and a note-counting machine. The two men, the FIR records, stated they had "received the link from Satish Sanpal and Dilip Khatri." Crime No. 247/22 was registered under the IPC and the Public Gambling Act.
Sanpal's petition states he was implicated "solely on the basis of information given by the co-accused," whom he says he does not know.
On 28 April 2023, police chargesheeted five co-accused — without Sanpal. The order records why: "revisionist Satish Sanpal being outside India, his arrest could not be secured," and the investigation against him was kept pending under Section 173(8) CrPC. Sanpal has not entered India since March 2020.
Warrant, medical papers, video appearances
On 29 January 2026, the order records, Sanpal's advocates asked the trial magistrate to permit his appearance by video conferencing, cancel the non-bailable warrant issued against him, and grant bail. All three requests were refused, the magistrate holding that physical custody was necessary and that "the revisionist's medical report is not reliable."
On revision, Sanpal won permission to appear by video — a facility six other Jabalpur courts already extend to him in six other cases, the order notes. Appearing on screen from Dubai on 6 April 2026, he again sought bail. The magistrate refused, reasoning that a video appearance is not custody: if bail were granted and bonds not furnished, "it would not be possible for the court to send the revisionist to jail custody."
In his second revision, Sanpal's grounds included that "due to the Iran–Israel–America war and drone attacks on Dubai airport, air services are disrupted, due to which the revisionist is unable to travel by air."
Judge accepts his law, refuses relief on facts.
Judge Thakur's order accepts much of the legal framework relied on by Sanpal — that video appearance is lawful, that bail in bailable offences is ordinarily a right, and that the magistrate's insistence on physical custody "does not appear proper" — but concludes that relief cannot be granted on the facts.
Decisive among those facts: an application filed by the Station House Officer, Kotwali, on 17 March 2026, recording that "the investigation of the matter is continuously ongoing" — from which the court drew the inference that "the revisionist is required in the investigation." The order notes the police filed this after Sanpal's video-conferencing victories of January and February.
Since Sanpal "seeks the benefit of bail even before the supplementary chargesheet against him has been presented," the court dismissed the revision, granting liberty to renew once that chargesheet is filed.
The judicial record extends beyond one case
The proceedings concerning Satish Sanpal are not the only judicial records emerging from Jabalpur.
In a separate sessions court order dated 27 March 2025, Soniya Sanpal—described as Satish Sanpal's wife in court filings — was refused relief relating to renewal of her passport after having earlier been declared a "Proclaimed Offender" under Sections 82–83 CrPC in Crime No. 356/2022 of Police Station Lordganj.
According to the police report summarised in that order, investigators alleged that a shell company linked to her account was used to transfer about ₹352 crore that police described as betting proceeds. The same order records the police position that the arrests of both Soniya Sanpal and Satish Sanpal remained pending. It further records that the court found she had obtained anticipatory bail without appearing before the court despite a condition restricting her travel outside India, describing it as concealment of facts and an abuse of process. The order also notes that the Superintendent of Police had announced a reward of ₹1,000 for information leading to her arrest.
Those allegations remain subject to criminal proceedings. Soniya Sanpal has not been convicted. Satish Sanpal is not a party to that revision petition, has not been declared a proclaimed offender by any court, and nothing in that order records any finding of guilt against him.
The contrast — and a Delhi question
The certified record stands in sharp contrast to Sanpal's public profile. On Desi Bling, he describes a fortune of $3 billion — upwards of ₹25,000 crore — against Dubai's skyline, opening with the line: "Paisa khuda to nahi, lekin khuda ki kasam, khuda se kam bhi nahi" — money is not God, but no less than God.
The order also raises a timing question. On 6 May 2026 — nine days after the Jabalpur dismissal — the Delhi High Court granted Sanpal an interim injunction against 21 publishers in his defamation suit, CS(OS) 335/2026, recording the submission that he holds bail in eight of nine criminal cases and, in the ninth, is "in the process of securing bail." The Jabalpur record shows that by then, his applications for bail had been rejected and his earlier request to cancel the non-bailable warrant had not succeeded. Whether the 27 April order was placed before the Delhi High Court is not apparent from the Delhi order. When this correspondent reached an advocate for one of the parties, he said the court was yet to hear them.
Four years after the alleged betting operation was first raided, the investigation against Satish Sanpal remains open. The supplementary chargesheet has not been filed because, according to the certified judicial record, the investigation has yet to reach him.
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Disclosure: On 13 July 2026, Satish Sanpal served a legal notice on BW Businessworld through his counsel in respect of earlier reporting concerning him, demanding removal of articles, an apology, and disclosure of this reporter's sources. BW Businessworld declines to disclose its sources, stands by its document-based reporting, and is responding through counsel.
FOR THE RECORD: Satish Sanpal has been granted bail in eight of the nine criminal cases registered against him; the ninth is Crime No. 247/22, in which his plea was declined as described above, with liberty to renew. He has not been convicted of any offence and has not been declared a proclaimed offender by any court; he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. The FIR statements attributing the betting "link" to him are prosecution allegations recorded during investigation, untested at trial and denied by him. Nothing in this report asserts that Mr Sanpal's wealth derives from the conduct under investigation. This report is based on the certified copy of the order dated 27.04.2026 in Criminal Revision No. 234/2026 and other public judicial records cited. |
