Mahadev app promoter booked pvt jets from Nagpur to UAE for family

Viraj Deshpande (Lokmat News Network Nagpur)

It took time and people were scammed of crores but the game appears to be up for illegal betting app operators this time. The enforcement directorate (ED) has finally cracked down on illegal betting apps and conducted a spate of raids at 39 locations across the country including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bhopal and Raipur leading to huge seizures.

Assets worth Rs 417 crore have been frozen by the ED, pending inquiry. Lokmat Times had reported on such illegal betting apps in a series of articles and also highlighted the impunity with which they were being run on a national scale.

If sources are to be believed the uncovering of this massive scam -- wherein the operators of 'Mahadev app' were found to be encouraging illegal betting on cricket -- is just a tip of the iceberg. There are several other apps that are still working in this illicit "industry" that is valued at thousands of crores. All reports of Lokmat Times stand vindicated in the investigations leading to the raids. Your newspaper was among the few which duly reported the presence of multilayered transactions in laundering the huge amounts secured through illegal betting and the use of off-shore shell companies in this process.

Lokmat Times had also reported how celebrities and social media influencers were being roped in to promote the apps and trap gullible "customers". The ED's findings clearly bear us out. The ED's dragnet did not include Nagpur in the raids this time as there were bigger fishes around to be caught, but the link with city bookies clearly stands established. The ED investigations threw up the name of Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal from Bhilai in Chattisgarh as the main promoters (franchises?) of Mahadev app running the operation from Dubai.

Interestingly, Sourabh got married in Ras-Al-Khaimah in the UAE in February this year and the promoters of the app spent a whopping Rs200 crores on the wedding. The syndicate used hawala and money laundering schemes to make these payments. "Private jets were hired to ferry family members of the accused from Nagpur to UAE," said the ED. It takes an average of USD 12,000 or just under Rs 10 lakh per hour to hire a 30 odd seater non-VT (non-Viceroy territory or foreign) registered aircraft to ferry passengers to various gateways airports like Dubai in the UAE from Nagpur. Those in the know say the hiring party has to pay two-way fare plus lodging and boarding for the crew and parking charges in case the flight is retained for the day. But money was never a problem for the accused as the betting app is estimated to have got them as much in a few hours.

The city will remain on the scanner of the ED for some time as Nagpur is also considered to be a big base for bookies in central India as well as Vidarbha. Recently, international bookie and fraudster Anant Jain alias Sontu was booked by Nagpur police for duping a businessman of Rs. 58 crore in a fake online betting app. It is suspected that Sontu has amassed properties worth more than Rs 500 crore through these betting apps. He had also fled to Dubai before the police action. If Sontu -- considered a middle-level operative -- not even the top guy in the racket could procure properties worth such a huge amount one can only imagine the value of the total illegal gaming operations.

Apart from loss of money, online gambling has already taken a toll on many families in the city. In May this year, Khiten Wadhwani (20) ended his life after losing money in the Mahadev app. His mother had also died after consuming poison after she lost her only son. Two more suicides had happened because of these apps.

Shell accounts used for transactions
Illegal apps are mainly operated from foreign countries, Dubai and England. However, their punters and franchise owners are active in India to look after collection and forwarding of the payments. "For taking and making payments these apps use shell accounts in the name of different persons and shops. They have thousands of accounts. They never exceed the limit of current accounts of businesses to avoid suspicion," said sources.

Hundreds of betting applications
There are hundreds of illegal betting applications. Some of which are also fake. However, applications like Mahadev Book, Reddy Anna, Fairplay.com and others have been active for a long time so punters use them prominently.

Celebrities openly promoting these apps

Many celebrities, including Bollywood and South India actors, are ipenly promoting these apps on social media. Even the influencers, with millions of followers, are roped in by the app owners to bring customers. Apart from this many offers such as promo codes are given in the name of celebrities to lure customers.