Mahadev Online Book: Police unearth BPO-like support centre in Pune rural

According to the police, the support centre was facilitating payment gateway services for MOB apps.

Pune: The Pune rural police have found that certain illegal operations of the Mahadev Online Book (MOB) were being carried out from a business process outsourcing (BPO)-like setup in Narayangaon, a small nondescript town 80 km north of the city.

Mahadev Online Book: Police unearth BPO-like support centre in Pune rural

This was after the police raided Galaxy Vision Complex, a three-storey building in Narayangaon, where they arrested 93 people and detained three minors on May 15.

According to the police, the support centre was facilitating payment gateway services for MOB apps such as Mahadev Book and Lotus 365, which have been linked with unlawful betting and gambling activities. The police will conduct a forensic audit to determine the quantum of transactions carried out by the apps.

The support centre was located in a rural area in the Pune district to evade police scrutiny. “The accused could have easily set up a call centre in any city area, but we think they might have preferred rural areas to avoid police action. The exact reason will be revealed after a detailed investigation,” said Pankaj Deshmukh, superintendent of the Pune rural police.

The three prime accused persons running the support centre — Rutvik Kothari, Raj Bokaria and Salman Mirajar alias Pathan — all hail from the Junnar-Narayangaon area, which is why they might have picked the town, the police added. The three accused previously ran their BPO services from locations such as Hadapsar and Undri. They regularly changed their operating location to evade police action.

“Even after the police raid, their payment services are working. If you click on the link and follow the process, then payment will be done. It means that they are operating from other locations as well,” said Deshmukh.

While Mirajar was among the 93 arrested people, Bokaria and Kothari are currently untraceable. The Pune rural police have served Look Out Circular (LOC) against the two accused. “In order to prevent them from fleeing the country, we have issued Look Out Circular against Bakoria and Kothari. These two, along with Salman Mirajar alias Pathan are considered to be the masterminds in organising various things in this case,” said Deshmukh.

Kothari, Bokaria and Pathan ran the support centre as a franchise unit of the Mahadev betting app in Pune. The police’s investigation found that some of the other arrested accused persons from the centre used to regularly travel to Dubai, where MOB has an office.

During the raid, the police seized 45 laptops, 89 mobiles, 452 bank passbooks, chequebooks and other equipment worth over ₹62 lakh. At least 88 of the arrested persons who were working at the office have been sent to magistrate custody, according to the police.

The Narayangaon police station has filed a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating and forgery, and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act and the Information Technology Act.

The MOB syndicate includes betting and gambling apps such as Sky Exchange, Lotus 365, Mahadev Book, Reddy Anna, Reddy Club, and Alibaba Book. The apps advertise contact numbers online to entice people to gamble. They offer illegal betting services for sports such as cricket, football and tennis, along with card games and other gambling games.

Until recently, it was believed that two men, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal were the masterminds. But as HT reported on May 17, the Enforcement Directorate has named a German national, Lark Marshall, and four other Indians, Hari Shankar Tibrewal, Girish Talreja and Shubham Soni aka Pintu Bhaiyya, in addition to Uppal and Chandrakar as the platform’s brains trust.

“Betting through online gaming apps is a serious issue and the consumer affairs ministry should take a strong stance on it,” said cyber security expert Rohan Nyayadhish. “These apps are preying on vulnerable individuals, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority should implement stricter regulations to protect consumers and address their concerns.”