Mahadev app case: ED makes two fresh arrests in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two more persons in connection with its money laundering investigation into the Mahadev online betting and gaming app case, officials said on Saturday.

Nitin Tibrewal, a resident of Kolkata, and Raipur-based Amit Agrawal were taken into custody under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and produced before a special court here on Friday, ED lawyer Saurabh Pandey said.

The court sent them to ED custody till January 17, he said.

Tibrewal is the majority shareholder of Techpro IT Solutions Ltd, a company that was acting as a "front" for Mahadev Online Book (Mahadev app) and investing the proceeds of crime generated out of illegal operations in India by way of foreign portfolio investment, the ED said in a statement.

He "tried to conceal this fact despite multiple opportunities granted to him. He also did not reveal his foreign bank accounts and assets before the ED which have been discovered during the course of investigations," the statement said.

Thus, Tibrewal was found to be knowingly assisting in layering the proceeds of crime by investing it in his name and through associated Indian and foreign entities, it said.

Amit Agrawal is the brother of accused Anil Kumar Agrawal, who is also a partner in the Mahadev app.

"Amit Agrawal knowingly utilised the proceeds of crime emanating out of Mahadev Online Book in purchasing assets in his and his wife's name. To fund these purchases, he arranged entries totalling Rs 2.5 crore in his and his wife's bank accounts against cash," the ED said.

The agency said in the statements recorded before it, Amit Agrawal maintained these bank entries are loans, however, the entry operator (hawala operator) involved in the transactions revealed the truth.

Amit Agrawal was found to be "knowingly assisting" in concealing the proceeds of crime emanating out of the betting operations of the Mahadev app, the agency said.

The agency had earlier arrested alleged cash courier Asim Das, police constable Bheem Singh Yadav, ASI Chandrabhushan Verma, alleged hawala operator brothers Anil and Sunil Dammani and a man identified as Satish Chandrakar in this case.

The agency had said that the alleged illegal funds generated by the app were used to pay bribes to politicians and bureaucrats in the state.

Many celebrities and Bollywood actors were summoned for questioning by the agency for their alleged links with the online betting platform and the mode of payment.

So far, the ED has filed two charge sheets in this case, including against the two main promoters of the alleged illegal betting and gaming app -- Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal -- among others.

The two were recently detained in Dubai on the basis of an Interpol red notice issued at the behest of the ED and the agency is trying to have them deported or extradited from the UAE to India.

The ED alleged in the first charge sheet that Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in February 2023 and about Rs 200 crore "in cash" was spent for this event.

Private jets were hired to ferry Chandrakar's relatives from India to the UAE and celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding, the agency alleged.

The projected proceeds of crime in this case are about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED.

The agency had claimed in November, just before the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls, that forensic analysis and the statement of Asim Das have led to "startling allegations" that Mahadev betting app promoters have paid about Rs 508 crore to former Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel so far, adding that these allegations were "subject matter of investigation".

Baghel had called these charges an attempt to "malign" his image while the Congress termed it "vendetta politics" of the Centre against him.

Chandrakar and Uppal hail from Bhilai town in Chhattisgarh. The Mahadev online betting app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites.