Mahadev betting app case, the ED made its 9th arrest.
Mahadev betting app case, In relation to its money-laundering investigation into the alleged illegal operations of the Mahadev online gaming and betting application, which allegedly involve high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced on Friday that it has made a new and ninth arrest.
The federal agency said in a statement that Nitish Diwan was taken into custody in Raipur on Thursday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and that a special court had transferred him to the ED’s custody until February 24.
The ED has made nine arrests in this case. Nitin Tibrewal, a resident of Kolkata, Amit Agrawal, who is based in Raipur, Asim Das, a purported cash courier, police constable Bheem Singh Yadav, Assistant Sub-Inspector Chandrabhushan Verma, brothers Anil and Sunil Dammani, who are purported to be “hawala” operators, and a guy known only as Satish Chandrakar were earlier taken into custody.
At Mahadev Online Book (MOB) in the United Arab Emirates, Nitish Diwan held the highest position possible. The federal agency asserted that he was so close to the Mahadev app promoters that they dispatched him to Zimbabwe to hunt for chances to open up betting activities.
It stated that Diwan was discovered to be “holding assets in his name, which were beneficially owned by the Mahadev Online promoters.”
The ED claimed that he was “fully aware” of the app’s illicit activities and that he was keeping and using bank accounts in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to transfer money.
The investigation revealed that entities had been formed in Diwan’s name in the United Arab Emirates, offering visa services to MOB employees stationed there. The entities were also allegedly being used to launder money from illicit gambling, according to the agency.
The ED said that Diwan was “knowingly assisting” the MOB promoters in their money-laundering schemes.
The agency included Diwan’s statement in its second chargesheet, which was filed in January. According to the statement, Diwan told the ED investigators that the Mahadev app and its subsidiary “Reddy Anna Book” operated up to 3,200 panels, generating up to Rs 40 crore per day. The promoters of the app also rented 20 villas in Dubai to house their nearly 3,500 employees.
“The promoters paid for the food, lodging, medication, travel, and visa,” Diwan said to the ED.
He informed the agency that on September 18, 2022, the app’s promoters had a success party in Dubai that was attended by a number of “Bollywood stars.”
The organization had previously claimed that bribes to officials and legislators in Chhattisgarh were made with the purportedly illicit money raised via the app.
The agency called a number of celebrities, including actors from Bollywood, to quiz them about their relationships to the online betting site and the payment method.
Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, the two primary promoters of the purportedly illicit betting and gambling app, are named in two chargesheets that the ED has so far issued in the case.
Officials claim that Uppal and Chandrakar were recently held in Dubai on the basis of an Interpol red alert that the ED issued, and the agency is attempting to have them extradited to India or deported from the United Arab Emirates.
In the first chargesheet, the ED has claimed that Chandrakar got married in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, in February 2023, and that the wedding cost over Rs 200 crore “in cash.”
According to the outlet, celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding and private jets were rented to transport Chandrakar’s relatives from India to the United Arab Emirates.
The agency estimates that approximately Rs 6,000 crore was made from the crime in this instance.
Just prior to the first round of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections in November of last year, the Enforcement Department (ED) stated that forensic analysis and Asim Das’s statement had produced “startling allegations” that the promoters of the Mahadev betting app had paid senior Congressman and former chief minister of the state Bhupesh Baghel approximately Rs 508 crore. The ED further stated that these allegations were a “subject matter of investigation.”
Baghel termed these accusations an effort to “malign” his reputation, while the Congress characterized the progression as the outcome of the BJP-led Center’s “vendetta politics.”
Uppal and Chandrakar are from the Chhattisgarh town of Bhilai. An umbrella syndicate that sets up online platforms to allow illegal betting websites is Mahadev Online Betting App.
by,HHM