New Delhi [India], January 13 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached movable and immovable properties totalling Rs 21.45 crore belonging to eight accused in its ongoing investigation into the illegal betting operations of the Mahadev Online Book (MOB).
The attached assets include movable properties valued at Rs 98.55 lakh and 27 immovable properties, including residential houses, commercial shops, agricultural land, and luxury apartments located in India and Dubai, collectively valued at Rs 20.46 crore.
The properties belong to Ravi Uppal, the main promoter who remains absconding; Rajat Kumar Singh; Saurabh Ahuja; Vishal Ramani; Vinay Kumar; Honey Singh; Lucky Goyal; and Raja Gupta.
The agency attached Uppal's property in Dubai (Atria Ra) valued at approximately Rs 6.75 crore.
Besides, ED attached the property of Rajat Kumar Singh, a close associate of Saurabh Chandrakar, who operated multiple panels and earned Rs 15-20 crore of Proceeds of Crime (POC). The attached assets include properties in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, and Dubai.
The property details of Saurabh Ahuja and Vishal Ramani in Durg and Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, were also attached. They are partners who operated nearly 100 panels and earned approximately Rs 30 crore POC.
The ED attachments include the residential properties of Vinay Kumar and Honey Singh in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and New Delhi, along with a fleet of vehicles. They operated six panels and were involved in the fake promotion of the betting app. They earned an estimated Rs 7 crore (Rs 3.5 crore each) of POC.
The agency attached multiple shops and plots in Rajasthan belonging to Lucky Goyal, who was involved in Telegram-based promotions and generated POC of Rs 2.55 crore.
An immovable property of Raja Gupta, a Dubai-based operator managing at least 10 panels, based in Chhattisgarh, was also considered in the attachment, as the asset was acquired out of the POC.
ED's Raipur Zonal Office issued a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) dated January 10 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, attaching these properties.
The federal agency initiated an investigation based on multiple First Information Reports filed by the Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal Police.
ED said its investigation revealed a massive betting syndicate as the platform provided illegal betting services through domain names such as Tiger Exchange, Gold365, and Laser247.
"The operation functioned via a franchise model of 'panels and branches' managed by associates, while the main promoters, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, operated from Dubai," said the agency in a statement.
The agency further said its investigation deciphered that "the promoters kept 70-75 per cent of the total profits generated by these panels while the remaining was kept by the panel operators."
"The POC were layered through thousands of 'mule' or 'dummy' bank accounts opened using the KYC documents of unsuspecting individuals."
So far, the ED has conducted searches at more than 175 premises in this case. As a result of the ongoing investigation, movable and immovable assets worth Rs 2,621 crore have been seized, frozen, or attached.
Further, ED has arrested 13 persons in the case, and 74 entities have been arraigned as accused in five Prosecution Complaints filed so far.