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Several A-list Bollywood celebrities have been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Mahadev betting app case. From actor Ranbir Kapoor to comedian Kapil Sharma, the anti-money laundering agency has asked them to appear at its office in Mumbai to probe into the matter. Ranbir Kapoor has requested one week time to appear before the ED but Kapil Sharma and Huma Qureshi visited the ED’s office yesterday in connection with Mahadev’s betting scam case.
All you need to know about the Mahadev betting app case:
The Mahadev gaming app allows its users to gamble on various games such as poker, card games, chance games, badminton, tennis, football, and cricket. The investigation by ED came to light after a lavish wedding in UAE in February this year.
The company promoted by Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal organised a lavish wedding in the United Arab Emirates in which around ₹200 crore was paid in cash.
At his wedding held in Ras Al-Khaimah, Sourabh Chandrakar hired private jets to ferry family members from Nagpur to the UAE and paid celebrities from the Indian film industry to perform.
According to ED, promoter Chandrakar, who hails from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh allegedly used the online book betting application to enrol new users, create IDs and launder money through a layered web of benami bank accounts.
Also read: Mahadev betting app scam: Sourabh Chandrakar’s rise from juice vendor to lavish ₹200 crore wedding
The ED investigation has shown that the Mahadev Online Book App is run from a central head office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said. It operates by franchising “Panel/Branches” to their known associates on a 70-30 profit ratio.
Also read: ED radar on Bollywood: Celebs attend gambling app owner’s ₹200-crore wedding; check names
The ED stated that the large-scale hawala operations are done to siphon off the proceeds of betting to offshore accounts.
Mahadev betting app case: About the founders
Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal are the masterminds behind the alleged money laundering bids. According to a report by the HT the Mahadev online betting app has been networked from its UAE headquarters to India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Also read: Actors Huma Qureshi, Kapil Sharma get ED summons in Mahadev betting case
Before running a million dollars umpire gambling business, Chandrakar ran a juice shop in Nehru Nagar in Bhillai while Uppal owned a tire before both of them became addicted to gambling, NDTV reported citing investigators.
Both of them went to Dubai and met a Sheikh and a Pakistani national.
After that, the duo set up the Mahadev online betting app.
Also read: Ranbir Kapoor seeks two weeks time to appear before ED in Mahadev betting app case
According to ED, both of them established around 4,000-panel operators in India for betting, with each panel having 200 customers who place bets. With this, Chandrakar and Uppal had been making ₹200 crore daily.
Why are Bollywood celebrities under the radar?
Several Bollywood stars, who attended or performed at Chandrakar’s wedding in February this year and the company’s success party in September last year, are under the ED scanner. Media reports claim that these stars allegedly accepted a huge amount of cash as payment for attending or performing at the wedding.
Also read: How is Ranbir Kapoor linked to Mahadev betting app scam? Key details revealed
The Enforcement Directorate has frozen and seized assets worth ₹417 crore in connection with the Mahadev online betting case.
The ED has recently conducted widespread searches against the money laundering networks linked with Mahadev APP in cities like Kolkata, Bhopal, Mumbai, etc. and retrieved a large amount of incriminating evidence and has frozen/seized proceeds of crime worth ₹417 crore.
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Updated: 06 Oct 2023, 11:40 AM IST
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