The Enforcement Directorate has seized the assets of former Indian national team cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan in connection with its investigation into an illegal betting app case, officials said on Thursday.
ED has an attached property value ₹11.14 crore belonging to Raina and Dhawan in a money laundering investigation linked to the operations of an alleged illegal betting site.
The agency has obtained an order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to freeze the immovable properties of cricketers. Pursuant to this order, ED has attached assets worth ₹4.5 crore Shikhar Dhawan and mutual fund worth Suresh Raina ₹6.64 million in a case against an online betting site called 1xBet.
What did ED say?
According to a PTI report, the federal agency has accused former India cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan of “knowingly” entering into endorsement deals with foreign entities to promote 1xBet and its proxies.
The ED questioned both the cricketers.
As part of this investigation, the agency has questioned several celebrities who are believed to be promoting or supporting this illegal betting app, including former cricketers such as Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, actors Sonu Sood, Urvashi Rautela, Mimi Chakraborty (former Trinamool Congress MP) and Ankush Hazra (Bengali actor).
Further investigation is underway.
The ED is investigating chances of financial links and promotional activities associated with 1xBet, which has been under scrutiny by several agencies for alleged violations of the PMLA and other laws.
The federal agency suspects that some celebrities may have indirectly promoted or endorsed the app, which is banned in India, leading users to believe it was legitimate. The case concerns a platform operating in India that is suspected of alleged money laundering, tax evasion and manipulation of its algorithms.
The case has been under investigation for the past few years, with authorities claiming that the platform operated illegally in India through surrogate websites and offshore entities.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier registered a case against the operator of the platform targeting Indian users, after which the ED launched its own money laundering probe.
ED crackdown on illegal betting apps
The ED has stepped up its crackdown on illegal betting apps over the past few months, even as the government banned online betting and satta apps in a new regulation to prevent Indians from losing their money.
This is not the first time that celebrities and influencers have come under the agencies’ radar for their involvement in such betting apps and websites.
