Actor Sahil Khan who was previously questioned by the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch in connection with the cheating case registered against the Mahadev betting app case, has been declared absconding, said police officials on Friday.
Khan was granted interim protection by the Bombay High Court recently after the session court rejected his pre-arrest plea. Soon after, on Saturday last week, Khan appeared before the Mumbai Police. He was questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for over three hours.
Bombay HC Rejects Pleas, Declares Him Absconding
Khan who was first summoned in December 2023 has been avoiding arrests by applying for anticipatory bail with the courts. He also approached the Bombay HC seeking quashing of the FIR.
Two days ago, the Bombay High Court rejected his plea directing him to cooperate with the police for interrogation. On Friday, a team from the Crime Branch visited Khan’s residence and found that he was missing. Despite repeated attempts, he was not found and then ended up declaring Khan as absconding.
Khan’s role is yet to be fixed, however, police officials said that he promoted advertisements urging citizens to use the betting app. By publicising the Mahadev app, he allegedly made huge profits. The court had noted the same while rejecting his pleas.
Allegations Of Hawala, Money Laundering And Match-Fixing
Last year, the Enforcement Directorate and the Matunga Police registered cases in the Mahadev betting app which included promoters Saurabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal, Shubham Soni, and many more as accused. In the FIR, serious allegations of hawala transactions, money laundering through cryptocurrency, and match-fixing have been llevelled against the accused. In the FIR, by Mumbai-based social worker Prakash Bankar, it says that through the betting app, people have been defrauded of more than Rs. 15,000 crores.
