ED conducts fresh searches in Mahadev app linked money laundering case

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches in Mumbai, some places in West Bengal and the Delhi-NCR as part of its money laundering investigation in the Mahadev online gaming and betting app that purportedly involves various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh.

Official sources said about 15 premises in these locations are being covered by the investigators of the federal probe agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

A total of nine persons have been arrested by the ED in this case till now.

The agency had earlier said that the alleged illegal funds generated by the app were used to pay bribes to politicians and bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh, from where the main promoters and operatives of the app hail.

Many celebrities and Bollywood actors were summoned for questioning by the agency on their links with the online betting platform and the mode of payment.

So far, the ED has filed two charge sheets in this case, including against the two main promoters of the alleged illegal betting and gaming app -- Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal -- among others. It had undertaken multiple raids in the case earlier.

The projected proceeds of crime in this case are about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED.