The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on October 4 summoned Ranbir Kapoor in connection with the Mahadev betting app money laundering case. The Bollywood actor allegedly received money from the app’s promoters to perform at the lavish UAE wedding of one of the two promoters. He also carried out promotional activities for the app and starred in its social media ads, according to sources quoted by news agency ANI. Kapoor accepted payments in cash for these ads, which the ED is treating as proceeds of crime.
Ranbir Kapoor has been asked to appear at the Enforcement Directorate’s Raipur, Chhattisgarh office on October 6. However, despite several attempts to contact the actor, there was no response from him. Kapoor is not the only star under ED’s scanner – several others also received money to perform at the wedding of Sourabh Chandrakar.
What’s the Mahadev betting app case about?
The ED has frozen and seized assets worth Rs 417 crore in connection with the Mahadev online betting case. The company, which was running operations from Dubai, allegedly used the online book betting application to enrol new users, create user IDs and launder money through a layered web of benami bank accounts, officials say.
The company promoted by Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal was being operated from Dubai. 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, the agency had said.
According to ED, large-scale hawala operations were carried out to siphon off the proceeds of betting to offshore accounts.
How the app operated
The ED investigation revealed that ads promoting Mahadev betting app would contain a WhatsApp number. Users who dialled the number or sent a message would have their call routed to a call centre.
There, a call centre employee would forward the user’s personal details to a panel operator. The panel operator would guide the person into opening an account on the app, placing bets, and receiving money.
The ED says that there are around 4,000 to 5,000 panel operators spread across Chattisgarh, Mumbai and Delhi. The Mahadev app founders, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, and the panel operators would share the profit at a ratio of 70:30.
The investigation revealed that the founders are running 4 to 5 similar apps in India and one such app in Pakistan.
(With inputs from agencies)
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