ED has taken swift action in the Mahadev Betting App case. Based on information received, the ED team on Friday arrested one of the owners of the Mahadev App, Girish Talreja, from Bhopal, meanwhile, his accomplice Suraj Chokhani too was taken into custody from Kolkata. On Sunday, both of them were produced in court in Raipur. ED’s lawyer argued for the remand of both of them. The court has sent both of them to jail for one day. Both of them will appear in Raipur court again on Monday.
Meanwhile, the other co-owner of the Mahadev App – Ratan Lal Jain is on the run. According to ED, transactions worth crores have been found with Girish Talreja, Ratanlal Jain, and Shubham Soni. Shubham Soni is absconding, and ED is searching for him. Suraj Chokhani, arrested from Kolkata, is accused of investing the money of Mahadev Satta App in the stock market. ED’s investigation also revealed that Nitish Diwan, a resident of Bhilai, used to live in Dubai with the promoter of Mahadev Satta App and worked as a panel operator. ED conducted raids in many cities of the country on 28th February.
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has appointed a National Central Bureau (NCB) in all of its 195 member countries. These bureaus serve as a single point of contact between Interpol and the respective law enforcement agencies of that member country.
In India, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the official NCB that is tasked with publishing, maintaining, and updating Red Corner Notices against fugitives/offenders as needed by India’s law enforcement authorities.
The Mahadev Book case has seen the arrest of several individuals recently. Arrested individuals included an ASI named Chandrabhushan Verma, a relative of the mastermind named Satish Chandrakar, and hawala operators Anil Dammani and Sunil Dammani. Verma is accused of taking bribes amounting to Rs 65 crore and distributing it to other senior officials under him as well, while the others are suspected of carrying out operations of the illegal betting network and laundering the proceeds out of the country.
Meanwhile, The ED presented the four high-profile accused to a special court recently, which provided them with judicial custody for seven days which ended yesterday. During that time, ED successfully extracted various pieces of information on the illegal betting network and the people linked to it.
On February 28, simultaneous raids were conducted by the ED in Raipur, Kolkata, Gurugram, Delhi, Indore, and Mumbai. Ratan Lal Jain & Girish Talreja, a hawala operator, was identified in connection with the case. Ratan Lal Jain & Girish Talreja, currently residing in Dubai, were allegedly involved in operating an illegal betting app called Sky Exchange in collaboration with Mahadev app promoters. Assets worth Rs 580.78 crore belonging to Ratan Lal Jain & Girish Talreja have been seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
It was discovered during the investigation that Ratan Lal Jain & Girish Talreja had been investing proceeds from illegal betting through his Dubai-based units into the Indian stock market via Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPIs). He had also appointed several associates as directors in the companies involved.
The ED release said that Ratan Lal Jain & Girish Talreja owned and operated one of the illegal betting websites viz. skyexchange, and were involved in the large-scale hawala movement of the betting fund
The ED initiated its investigation based on FIRs registered by the Chhattisgarh Police. Subsequently, other FIRs registered by the Vishakhapatnam Police and other states were also included in the investigation. The ED’s investigation into Mahadev Online Book revealed large-scale hawala operations aimed at siphoning off the proceeds of betting to offshore accounts.
