New Delhi [India], July 10 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 940.77 crore belonging to businessman Vikas Garg, his family members and entities owned and controlled by him in connection with the alleged illegal betting operations of Mahadev Online Book and Skyexchange, the agency said on Friday.
The attached properties include residential properties, land parcels, equity shares and other securities. With this latest attachment, the total value of properties attached, seized and frozen in the case has increased to approximately Rs 3,800 crore, according to the agency.
The ED’s Raipur zonal office carried out the attachment following a Provisional Attachment Order issued under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The action forms part of the ongoing money laundering investigation into the alleged illegal online betting operations linked to Mahadev Online Book and Skyexchange.
The ED initiated the investigation based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Chhattisgarh Police, along with other FIRs registered by police authorities in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal against the operators, promoters and associates of the alleged illegal online betting platforms. The FIRs include allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery.
ED said its investigation revealed that “the betting syndicate operates through a franchise-based ‘panel’ network run from abroad and was generating proceeds of crime of more than Rs 450 crore per month from illegal betting operations.”
The agency further said that the proceeds of crime generated from the illegal betting operations of Mahadev Online Book and Skyexchange were laundered through a “multi-layered structure of accommodation entries arranged against cash through a web of shell entities and other layered transactions designed to project the tainted funds as untainted.”
“Investigation revealed that proceeds of crime aggregating Rs 940.77 crore (approximately) of the Mahadev Online Book and Skyexchange betting operations were, in this manner, routed into the entities owned and controlled by Vikas Garg,” the agency said in a statement.
“The funds were further layered through various entities and were utilised, inter alia, for the acquisition of shares, securities and other assets.”
The ED said that earlier in the case, seven provisional attachment orders had been issued and prosecution complaints, including supplementary prosecution complaints, were filed before the Special PMLA Court in Raipur, which has taken cognisance of the offence of money laundering
Prior to the latest action, movable and immovable properties worth approximately Rs 2,825 crore, including foreign assets, had already been attached, seized or frozen in the case, the agency said. (ANI)
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