The Centre has banned betting apps involving illegal transactions and fake activities worth crores of rupees. The list includes 22 apps and websites. The ED has been probing the Mahadev betting app for the past few months. It has been banned by the Ministry of Information and Technology after illegal activities came to light. Syndicates of these illegal betting apps were active across the country.
The ED had recently raided different locations related to the Mahadev app in Chhattisgarh. It was during that investigation that their illegal activities came to light.
In a press statement on Sunday, Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "Under Section 69A IT, the Government of Chhattisgarh had every power to shut down the app. They didn't take that step. They also did not make that request during the investigation that has been going on for the last one and a half years."
The Union Minister of State for Information Technology said, "This news first came to light from the Enforcement Directorate. Then hasty action was taken. The Chhattisgarh government was not prevented from making any requests. Chhattisgarh Police constable Bhim Singh Yadav has been booked in connection with the betting racket. Apart from him, a person named Asim Das has also been taken into police custody. They have been arrested for offences under Section 19 of the Money Laundering Act. The entire network of this app is used to create fake bank accounts and create new users and IDs.
However, a year and a half ago, the ED busted the fake activities of Mahadev Betting. Since then, the investigation process has begun. In October, the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at 39 locations. The ED recovered Rs 417 crore in jewellery and cash. Saurabh Chandrakar of the Mahadev Betting App got married in Dubai in February of this year at a cost of Rs 200 crore. The money was spent entirely in cash by Chandrakar, the ED said.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, there are multiple groups and websites under this Mahadev betting app. They also kept a contact number in the chat. This number could only be contacted through WhatsApp. When anyone contacted the number, two numbers were given. In one of them, people were contacted and asked to deposit money for betting. Money was taken out through another number.
It is reported that 17 Bollywood actors are associated with this app. All of them have promoted the Mahadev betting app with money from the company. Basically, there are various games, lotteries, and betting going on here. This includes predicting election results, weather forecasting, and illegal betting.
