ED conducts fresh searches in IPL betting scam

Several searches conducted in Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur; ED to take action against 10 individuals in coming days

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches in several cities, including Mumbai, Delhi and Nagpur, in connection with the multi-crore betting and money laundering case in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

According to officials, the searches were conducted in connection of the online betting scam, where operators used a London-based online platform to place bets online, which is illegal.

The investigative agency is likely to take action against 10 more individuals in the case. “These individuals would be the higher-ups in the racket,” said an official on condition of anonymity.  

The agency has so far issued warrants against four operators — Thane-based Anil Jaisinghani, Jaipur-based brothers Vineet and Rahul Gangwal, and Sukhmunder Singh Sodhi. They are yet to be arrested, as they are on the run. At least one of them is alleged to be involved in fixing IPL matches, said the official.

Last month, ED had issued chargesheets against seven racketeers in Ahmedabad and Delhi — Tommy Patel, Kiran Mala, Chirag Parikh, Dharmendra Chauhan from Ahmedabad, and Ritesh, Ankush Bansal and Mukesh Kumar Sharma from Delhi.

The chargesheet focused on the operations of Tommy Patel and his dealings between November 2014 to March 2015, when the turnover from the scam reached Rs 2,800 crore and the net profit was close to Rs 15 crore.

Sources also indicated the role of the management and players of IPL teams was also being probed.

According to the investigative agency, the bookies placed bets on the London-based portal, betfair, in violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The Bombay High Court in 2010 had banned the online betting platform, but it is still active.

Betfair allegedly allowed the operations of 10 million online betting accounts of users in India between 2013 and March 2015, said an ED official.

To place a bet on the platform, one needs to have margin money in their betfair accounts, which was provided via the hawala route.

The ED is in the process of issuing a letter rogatory to the UK to trace the laundered money, a source said.

The agency is pegging the size of the scam between 2013 and 2015, and the money laundered, in the thousands of crores of rupees. The ED has conducted numerous raids in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Rajasthan to identify betting operators and crack down on the racket.