194-cr online gaming racket busted

Raigad Cyber Police uncovered an online gaming racket worth ₹194 crore, freezing 44 bank accounts. One arrest made; five more suspects sought.

NAVI MUMBAI: An online gaming racket involving transactions exceeding ₹194 crore has been exposed by the Raigad Cyber Police after a complaint was registered by an Alibag resident who had been defrauded. In addition, 44 bank accounts holding ₹19.44 crore have been frozen.

194-cr online gaming racket busted

One arrest has been made, in Rajasthan, while police are hunting for at least five other suspects. Police said the arrested accused, Bharmal Hanuman Meena (38) from Sawai Madhopur, ran a mobile phone shop and was at the centre of the gaming scam. Preliminary investigations have found that a bank account in his name held ₹1 lakh but it had recorded transactions worth ₹56 crore in just two months.

The racket came to light after a complaint was filed on September 19 by a resident of Alibag. He reported losing ₹10,000 on online gaming apps, while a friend claimed to have lost ₹50,000 on another gaming app.

“The complainant said that for the last three to four months, he had been receiving advertisements on his mobile phone for various online gaming apps, which claimed to offer ‘additional income’. Believing these apps were legitimate as they were available on mainstream platforms, he downloaded a few to play and earn money,” said Anchal Dalal, superintendent of police, Raigad.

However, the complainant received no returns and realised that gaming apps like these had been banned in India. He filed a complaint against the app operators, promoters, service providers, and others.

A case was registered under Sections 316(2), 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 4 and 12A of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887.

During the investigation, police discovered that the money paid by the complainant had been routed through mule accounts. The probe revealed massive transactions: one account handled ₹56 crore in two months, another ₹186 crore, and a third ₹114 crore in just over a month.

“Through the unique transaction reference number, it was found that mule accounts were being used to laund money, with each account holder earning daily commissions of up to ₹1 lakh,” said Dalal.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. We are still tracing where the money was routed and investigating the role of banks for not flagging such large transactions,” said Dalal.