₹15,000-crore cheating case: Crime branch forms SIT to probe MOB app

A special investigation team has been set up by the crime branch to investigate allegations of cheating by the Mahadev Online Book betting app and its promoters, with the amount involved estimated at ₹15,000 crore. The team will be headed by police inspector Mangesh Desai and will soon begin questioning individuals connected to the case. The Enforcement Directorate has also initiated a money laundering probe against the app and has sought Interpol's help in issuing a red corner notice against its promoters.

The crime branch has set up a special investigation team (SIT) comprising four officers from north cyber police station, crime intelligence unit, and anti-extortion cell to investigate the allegations of cheating by Mahadev Online Book (MOB) betting app and its promoters Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal to the tune of ₹15,000 crore.

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The team would be headed by police inspector Mangesh Desai from north cyber police station while three officers – a police inspector, an assistant police inspector, and a sub-inspector –would assist him, a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

The officer said SIT would soon start summoning persons connected with the case for questioning and to record their statements. “Looking at the sheer amount of money involved in the crime, we are contemplating involving auditors to understand the transactions. We will also probe the hawala transactions involved in laundering money out of India.”

On November 7, a case was registered at Matunga police station under section 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act and the Information Technology Act.

Apart from Chandrakar, founder of MOB app, and his close aide Uppal, the police have booked their accomplice Shubham Soni. Chandrakar and Uppal, both of whom hail from Chhattisgarh, are currently believed to be in the United Arab Emirates.

The FIR alleged that the Dabur group promoters, Burmans, who co-own the IPL team Punjab Kings XI, were part of a cricket betting racket. Chandrakar and two alleged bookies - London-based Dinesh Khambat and Dubai resident Chander Aggarwal – were involved in match-fixing in a certain cricket league, the FIR said. “Aggarwal has a backdoor and/or indirect involvement in the team participating in this cricket league. He is known to be directly related to accused no. 16 namely Mohit Burman.”

Burmans, however, denied the allegations, claiming that those were part of an attempt to block their acquisition of Religare Enterprises Limited. “From a copy of the FIR that is being circulated in the media, we note that allegations are being made that Mohit Burman and Gaurav Burman are directly related to some of the accused. Mohit and Gaurav do not even know or have never met the accused mentioned in the FIR,” a spokesperson for the Burmans had said.

The case was registered following orders of a metropolitan magistrate court at Kurla which acted on a complaint filed by social worker Prakash Bankar, the police said. The complainant had named several apps and claimed the accused were being protected by politicians and bureaucrats, and the money was being laundered out of the country via hawala channels. The accused, he said, had invested heavily in hotels and properties.

The complainant further alleged that since 2019, the accused had earned around ₹15,000 crore and caused heavy losses to the exchequer by avoiding tax payments. He had also named London-based bookies who were part of the racket, a police officer had said.

The complainant told the police that since 2019, advertisements of betting apps were popping up on social media platforms and people were lured with faces of various actors. They were asked to place bets on cricket, football, tennis, casino, teen patti, and other games. The system was so designed that people tended to lose money and the money could be used by criminal elements, the social worker had said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already initiated a money laundering probe against the MOB app and has sought Interpol’s help in issuing a red corner notice against its promoters. The agency alleged that Chandrakar and Uppal evaded the investigation and failed to appear before it for questioning. Chandrakar and Uppal were among the 14 persons other than a firm named in ED’s first chargesheet, which was submitted before a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Raipur in Chhattisgarh.