ED attaches assets worth ₹11.14 crore of Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan in illegal betting app case

The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets of former Indian national team cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan in connection with its probe against illegal betting app case, officials said on Thursday.

The ED has attached assets worth ₹11.14 crore belonging to Raina and Dhawan s part of the money-laundering probe 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 attach an immovable property of the cricketers. Following up on that order, the ED attached assets worth ₹4.5 crore of Shikhar Dhawan and a mutual fund of Suresh Raina worth ₹6.64 crore in the case against the online betting site named 1xBet.

What has the ED said?

According to a report by PTI, the federal agency accused former India cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan of ‘knowingly’ entering into endorsement agreements with foreign entities for the promotion of 1xBet and its surrogates.

The ED has questioned both cricketers.

The agency has questioned several celebrities believed to be promoting or endorsing this illegal betting app, including former cricketers such as Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, actors Sonu Sood, Urvashi Rautela, Mimi Chakraborty (a former Trinamool Congress MP) and Ankush Hazra (Bengali actor), as part of this investigation.

Further investigation is underway.

The ED is investigating the chances of financial links and promotional activities connected with 1xBet, which has been under the lens of multiple 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, thereby making users believe that it was legitimate. The case involves the platform operating in India, suspected of alleged money laundering, tax evasion, and rigging its algorithms.

The case has been under investigation for the past several years, with authorities alleging that the platform was operating illegally in India through surrogate websites and offshore entities.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier registered a case against the operators of the platform for targeting Indian users, after which the ED initiated its own money laundering probe.

ED crackdown on illegal betting apps

The ED has intensified 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 loss of money of Indians.

This is not the first time celebrities and influencers have come under the radar of agencies for their involvement in such betting apps and websites.