Mumbai, Jan 07: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 91.82 crore in connection with its probe into alleged illegal betting operations linked to Mahadev Online Book (MOB) and Skyexchange.com, the central agency said on Wednesday.
The attachment was carried out by ED through a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) issued under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The assets include bank balances, high-value real estate, and other liquid investments, which the agency said represent proceeds of crime (PoC) generated from large-scale online betting and gambling activities.
According to the agency, bank balances amounting to Rs 74.28 crore were attached from accounts held in the names of Perfect Plan Investment LLC and Exim General Trading–GZCO. The ED claimed these entities were linked to accused Sourabh Chandrakar, Anil Kumar Agarwal and Vikas Chhaparia.
Officials claimed that these firms were used to park, layer and project PoC as legitimate foreign investments, thereby masking the illegal origin of the funds. The ED said its investigation suggests that the accused routed betting proceeds through multiple jurisdictions before reinvesting them into India.
In addition, properties worth about Rs 17.5 crore belonging to Gagan Gupta, a close associate of Hari Shankar Tibrewal, the alleged owner of Skyexchange.com, were also attached. These include high-value real estate and liquid assets, some of which were held in the names of Gupta’s family members and were allegedly acquired using cash generated from illegal betting activities, officials said.
The ED claimed that its probe revealed that illegal betting platforms such as Mahadev Online Book and Skyexchange.com generated large PoC, which were laundered through a network of benami bank accounts. The agency said that the Online Book application acted as an umbrella platform facilitating multiple illegal betting websites and mobile applications by managing customer onboarding and financial operations.
Investigators alleged that the betting platforms were manipulated in such a manner that users eventually suffered losses. According to the agency, funds running into thousands of crores were generated through these platforms and distributed among operators through predetermined profit-sharing arrangements. Furthermore, fabricated or stolen KYC were also used to open bank accounts and illegal betting proceeds were layered to disguise the origin of the funds. All these transactions were neither accounted nor brought into the tax net.
The ED further alleged that the PoC generated through these illegal betting platforms were allegedly transferred outside India through hawala channels, trade-based money laundering transactions and the use of crypto assets. Officials said the funds were subsequently routed back into the country and invested in the Indian stock market through foreign portfolio investor (FPI) entities.
The probe has also uncovered an alleged “cashback” arrangement, under which FPI entities invested substantial amounts in Indian listed companies. While the investment appeared legal on paper, there was a secret agreement between the promoters and the FPIs. According to this agreement, the company promoters were required to return 30% to 40% of the total investment in cash. This money was not handed directly to the investor, instead it was routed back through cash, hawala channels, or shell companies. On the surface, it appeared that foreign investment had come into the company, strengthening its financial position, but in reality, a large portion of the money was returned.
According to the agency, through such transactions, Gagan Gupta benefited from at least Rs 98 crore, involving companies such as Salasar Techno Engineering Ltd and Tiger Logistics Ltd.
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So far, the ED has conducted searches at over 175 locations across the country in the case. Assets worth approximately Rs 2,600 crore have been seized, frozen or attached, the agency said. Thirteen persons have been arrested, and 74 entities have been named as accused in five prosecution complaints filed to date.
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