Raipur: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties valued at approximately Rs 91.82 crore in the ongoing money laundering probe into the illegal operations of Mahadev Online Book (MOB) and Skyexchange.com betting platforms.
In its latest action, the ED’s Raipur Zonal Office froze bank balances worth Rs 74.29 crore held in the names of Dubai-based entities M/s Perfect Plan Investment LLC and M/s Exim General Trading FZCO. These firms are allegedly controlled by key accused Sourabh Chandrakar, Anil Kumar Agarwal, and Vikas Chhaparia, who used them to disguise proceeds of crime as legitimate investments, a statement of the investigation agency said on Wednesday.
Additionally, properties worth Rs 17.5 crore belonging to Gagan Gupta—a close associate of Hari Shankar Tibrewal, the owner of Skyexchange.com—were attached. These include high-value real estate and assets in the names of Gupta’s family members, acquired using cash generated from illicit betting, it said.
The ED investigation revealed that platforms like Mahadev Online Book and Skyexchange.com rigged games to ensure users lost money, generating massive illegal proceeds. The app served as an umbrella network facilitating user enrolment, financial routing, and laundering through benami accounts, fake KYC documents, and unaccounted transactions, the statement said.
Proceeds were siphoned abroad via hawala, trade-based laundering, and cryptocurrencies, then reinvested in Indian stocks through foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). A “cashback” scheme was uncovered, where FPIs invested in listed companies like Salasar Techno Engineering Ltd and Tiger Logistics Ltd, with promoters returning 30-40 per cent in cash.
Gupta allegedly benefited Rs 98 crore from such deals, it said. The agency has conducted searches at over 175 premises, attaching/seizing/freezing assets worth around Rs 2,600 crore. Thirteen arrests have been made, with 74 entities named in five prosecution complaints.
The probe highlights sophisticated laundering tactics evading taxes and regulations, as the ED continues to dismantle the syndicate’s financial web.
(IANS)
