The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has charged EaseMyTrip co-founder Nishant Pitti with facilitating the entry of proceeds of illegal betting into the Indian equity market under the guise of foreign portfolio investments (FPIs), in the Mahadev online betting app money laundering case.
ED also provisionally attached Pitti’s demat shares worth ₹59.60 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The attachment order was issued on September 10 when ED filed its fifth supplementary charge sheet before a special PMLA court in Raipur. ED sought the court’s permission to confiscate the shares, describing them as proceeds of crime under the anti-money laundering law.
A response from EaseMyTrip on the charges was awaited.
Officials said the charges against Pitti, 40, chairman-cum-managing director of EaseMyTrip, were part of the fifth supplementary charge sheet, which names 42 individuals and companies, including EBIX Group chairman Vikas Garg, 53.
ED arrested Garg in July after conducting searches at his house in Delhi. Following his arrest, the Delhi BJP removed him as convenor of its economic cell and cancelled his primary membership. Garg is currently in judicial custody.
The Mahadev Online Book (MOB), also known as the Mahadev betting app, is allegedly operated and promoted by Chhattisgarh-based businessmen Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, both absconding. ED has alleged that the betting network generated proceeds of crime worth around ₹80,000 crore since 2019. Interpol has issued Red Notices against the two.
{{/usCountry}}The Mahadev Online Book (MOB), also known as the Mahadev betting app, is allegedly operated and promoted by Chhattisgarh-based businessmen Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, both absconding. ED has alleged that the betting network generated proceeds of crime worth around ₹80,000 crore since 2019. Interpol has issued Red Notices against the two.
{{/usCountry}}ED searched premises linked to Pitti in April 2025 and questioned him thrice—twice in August. EaseMyTrip had previously denied any direct or indirect association with the Mahadev betting app or any other betting platform.
The charge sheet names Pitti as a “close associate” of Hari Shankar Tibrewal, the Dubai-based owner of the alleged illegal betting platform Skyexchange.
ED alleged that Pitti was directly involved in facilitating the entry of proceeds of crime into the Indian equity market under the guise of FPIs. It also alleged that Pitti, on behalf of the promoters of Easy Trip Planners Ltd, the holding company of EaseMyTrip, entered into a pre-arranged deal with an associate of Tibrewal to manipulate the company’s stock price and artificially inflate its market capitalisation.
ED has alleged that Pitti knowingly assisted Tibrewal in layering proceeds of crime generated through Skyexchange and knowingly acquired, possessed, concealed and used such proceeds, making him liable under PMLA.
ED also cited EaseMyTrip’s co-sponsorship of a cricket series in India in 2022 along with Skyexchange as evidence of an operational nexus between the entities.
According to ED, Tibrewal controlled several foreign firms that were allegedly used to launder proceeds generated through Skyexchange by investing in Indian stock markets.
In the case of Garg, ED alleged that he and entities linked to him received ₹765.77 crore from entities owned or controlled by Tibrewal. The funds were allegedly used to acquire US-based Ebix Inc.
ED alleged that Garg, in a statement recorded under PMLA, admitted receiving the money from Tibrewal’s overseas entities despite knowing about Tibrewal’s alleged involvement in illegal betting and that the funds represented proceeds of crime generated through Skyexchange.
The agency said its investigation found that Skyexchange, which began operations in 2016, had generated proceeds of crime estimated at around ₹12,000 crore.
ED told the court that the latest filing was its sixth charge sheet — one main charge sheet and five supplementary charge sheets — in the case and that its investigation had been completed against all accused except the three.
ED has arrested 14 people in the case, attached assets worth ₹1,885 crore, named 116 accused in its six charge sheets and conducted searches at 190 premises across the country. The money laundering case was registered in October 2022 on the basis of FIRs and charge sheets filed by the Chattisgarh Police.