Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday attached properties worth Rs3.4 crore of Anil Jaisinghani, a Gujarat-based cricket bookie, in a money laundering case. Jaisinghani along with his daughter allegedly tried to extort and blackmail Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s wife Amruta Fadnavis.
ED had initiated investigations into the cricket betting case registered at Vadodara police station, Gujarat, in 2015 and found evidence of Jaisinghani's involvement in betting activities and the accumulation of substantial illicit funds and money laundering through hawala. Jaisinghani had been evading ED summons despite a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued by a special court against him in 2015 until his arrest by Mumbai police in March 2023 for threatening, extortion and blackmailing Amruta Fadnavis.
ED Took Bookie's Custody In Connection To Case Filed In 2015
ED Ahmedabad took his custody in April in a money laundering case linked to IPL betting and carried out searches at Thane and Ulhasnagar properties in June this year.The probe agency also filed a chargesheet against Jaisinghani last month before the PMLA Special Court, Ahmedabad.
The ED’s case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was initiated against various cricket bookies, including Jaisinghani, on the basis of an FIR registered by Gujarat’s Vadodara police in 2015. “During the investigation, it was revealed that Anil Jaisinghani was involved in cricket betting activities and had accumulated huge sums of money through his fraudulent activities, through persons connected with Maruti-Ahmedabad, an entity engaged in betting activities,” the ED said.
Another Case Filed For Extorting And Blackmailing Amruta Fadnavis
Mumbai police has also filed chargesheet against Jaisinghani and his daughter Aniksha for extorting and blackmailing Amruta Fadnavis. Amruta Fadnavis had alleged that Aniksha introduced herself as a jewellery and clothes designer to befriend her. Amruta became a regular client for clothing and jewellery that she rented for events and gained the deputy chief minister's wife's confidence to confide that her father Jaisinghani knew about bookies and their operations.
According to Mumbai police, Jaisinghani then offered a bribe of Rs1 crore to Amruta Fadnavis, asking her to influence her husband and seek his intervention in criminal cases registered against him. When Amruta did not respond, he allegedly started sharing videos with Amruta where Aniksha could be seen filling bags with cash and dollars and then handing those over to Amruta's staffers in an attempt to blackmail her. Following a complaint by Devendra Fadnavis, Anshika was arrested in March followed by the arrest of Anil Jaisinghani and his cousin Nirmal a week later.
