Mahadev-app case: ED attaches fresh assets including of main promoter Saurabh Chandrakar

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has attached fresh assets worth about Rs 92 crore of various accused including Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the main promoters of the "illegal" Mahadev online betting app, in which various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh are allegedly involved.

A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach bank deposits worth more than Rs 74.28 crore held by Perfect Plan Investment LLC and Exim General Trading - GZCO.

"These entities belong to Sourabh Chandrakar, Anil Kumar Agarwal and Vikas Chhaparia," the ED said in a statement.

The Mahadev app was promoted by Chandrakar and his associate Ravi Uppal, both of whom hail from Chhattisgarh, and India is continuing to pursue their extradition. Their last known location was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Also, properties worth Rs 17.5 crore belonging to Gagan Gupta, a close associate of Hari Shankar Tibrewal and whom the ED has claimed to be the owner of Skyexchange.com and an alleged hawala operator based in Dubai, have been attached.

The Mahadev Online Book (MOB) app and Skyexchange.com generated "huge" proceeds of crime that were "laundered" through a complex web of benami bank accounts, according to the federal agency.

Chandrakar and others "cheated" the public through the Mahadev app that was created to facilitate multiple illegal betting websites or mobile applications to acquire customers and take care of the financial operations for these illegal betting games and websites.

In this process, the websites were "rigged" in such a manner that all the customers would ultimately lose money, the ED has said.

The alleged illicit funds generated through illegal betting platforms were transferred outside India through hawala channels, trade-based money-laundering transactions and the use of crypto assets and subsequently, routed back and invested in the Indian stock market in the name of foreign portfolio investments (FPIs).

The ED has claimed to have unearthed a sophisticated "cashback" scheme where the said FPI entities would invest "heavily" in listed Indian companies and in return, the promoters of these companies were required to pay 30-40 per cent of the investment back in cash.

Gupta, according to the ED, has been identified as a beneficiary of at least Rs 98 crore from such transactions involving entities like Salasar Techno Engineering Limited and Tiger Logistics Limited.

The ED has so far filed five chargesheets in this case, arrested 13 people and seized and attached assets worth Rs 2,600 crore.

The agency had earlier said its probe in the Mahadev gaming and betting app case has shown the involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh.

It had said the MOB app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs and laundering money through a layered web of benami bank accounts.