ED summons Ranbir Kapoor in Mahadev betting app case

NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday (October 6) in connection with the Mahadev betting app case.

According to sources, Ranbir Kapoor had allegedly carried out promotional activities for the Mahadev betting app. In this case, ED also suspects several other A-lister celebrities and certain sports personalities who promoted the app.

The founders of Mahadev app are running 4-5 similar apps. The apps were being run from UAE. All these apps were making a profit of several crores rupees every day.

A lavish wedding held this February in the United Arab Emirates caught the attention of the Enforcement Directorate as the entire money — around Rs 200 crore — spent on the bash was paid entirely in cash.

At his wedding held in Ras Al-Khaimah, Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of Mahadev Online Book Betting app, hired private jets to ferry family members from Nagpur to the UAE and paid celebrities from the Indian film industry to perform, according to the ED.

The agency, in mid-September, released details of its investigation into the online money laundering case linked with the Mahadev Online Book Betting app. Wedding planners, dancers, decorators etc, were hired from Mumbai and hawala channels were used to make payments in cash, ED had said.

Mahadev Online Book Betting app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enroll new users, create user IDs and the laundering of money through a layered web of benami bank accounts.

The ED said Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, who hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, are the two main promoters of the Mahadev betting platform and ran their operations from Dubai. They had created an empire for themselves in that country.

The agency had recently conducted searches at 39 locations across Raipur, Bhopal, Mumbai and Kolkata and seized illegal assets worth Rs 417 crore. ED has also earnestly taken up investigation abroad. A Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court at Raipur has also issued non-bailable warrants against the suspects.

The ED, which is investigating money laundering charges in connection with the Mahadev Online Book app, had last month conducted searches in Chhattisgarh and arrested four accused including the chief liaison of the betting syndicate, which the probe agency alleged was organising payment of bribes to senior government functionaries as ‘protection money.’

The ED had stated that it has successfully identified other major players involved in the money laundering operations of the Mahadev online booking app. (ANI)