Regarding the Enforcement Directorate’s raids on its property in relation to the Mahadev betting app case, online travel aggregator (OTA) Easemytrip has provided an explanation. EaseMyTrip denied any affiliation with the Mahadev app or any other betting site in a statement released today. According to information in the public domain, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched more than 50 places belonging to different individuals and corporations. The EaseMyTrip premises was one of them. According to a corporate spokeswoman, EaseMyTrip is entirely committed to working with the authorities during the inquiry, even though the company has no direct or indirect affiliation with the Mahadev Betting App or any other betting platform. The statement was made a day after it was reported that the central investigative agency, ED, had raided multiple locations nationwide connected to Nishant Pitti, the co-founder and Chairman of EaseMyTrip. The ED’s money laundering investigation into the Mahadev betting scam, which defrauded unsuspecting investors of an astounding INR 20,000 Cr, included the searches.
No Conducive Evidence Found
According to a fresh agency report, investigators investigating the case said that no serious proof has been discovered so far during the searches at locations connected to EaseMyTrip. As part of its ongoing money laundering probe into the INR 20,000 Cr Mahadev betting case, ED is reportedly conducting raids at multiple sites throughout the nation connected to Nishant Pitti, co-founder and Chairman of online travel aggregator EaseMyTrip. According to a media house, which cited sources, the raids are presently taking place in 15 different places in India, including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Indore, Jaipur, Chennai, and Sambalpur. The Mahadev app was operated by Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, according to the ED’s probe. It enabled users to place real-time wagers on sports including tennis, football, and cricket. At its height, the app had close to 10 million users. The ED previously claimed that Bhupesh Baghel, the former chief minister of Chhattisgarh, had collected kickbacks from the Mahadev app’s developers of more than 500 Cr. Baghel, however, denied these allegations, calling them attempts to damage his reputation.
What Exactly is Mahadev Betting Scam?
One of the largest illicit betting schemes in India was the Mahadev Online Book app, which cheated Indian investors out of over INR 20,000 Cr. The Mahadev app was blocked by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in 2023 for breaking the nation’s money laundering regulations. Through questionable banking practices or “hawala” transactions, the app was being used to launder money between India and Dubai, according to the ED’s probe. An estimated INR 20,000 Cr was obtained from the crime in this instance; of that amount, INR 1,100 Cr was transferred into the stock market using fictitious bank firms and dummy accounts. After Chandrakar’s extravagant wedding ceremony in the United Arab Emirates garnered media attention in February 2023, the Mahadev betting app scam was exposed. At least six Indian superstars were paid to perform at the wedding, which cost about INR 200 Cr. Chandrakar’s relatives were transported from India by private aircraft. According to reports, the investigation team later arrested about a dozen people in connection with the money laundering case involving the Mahadev Book app and frozen funds totalling more than INR 1,700 Cr. According to sources, Chandrakar, the suspected mastermind of the Mahadev betting fraud, was taken into custody in the United Arab Emirates in October of last year.
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