₹331 cr in bike-taxi driver’s account funded grand wedding in Udaipur? ED uncovers mystery money trail

While probing a money-laundering case linked to an illegal betting app, involving over ₹331 crore deposited into a bank account over eight months, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials traced the transactions to a bike-taxi driver working with a well-known cab aggregator just to make ends meet, according to PTI.

What further drew the ED’s attention was that more than ₹1 crore, out of the over ₹331 crore deposited, had been used to cover expenses for a "grand destination wedding" at a luxury hotel in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Officials said the wedding is linked to a young politician from Gujarat, who may soon be summoned for questioning.

The ED believes that the driver’s bank account was a "mule" platform.

Investigators quickly realised it was a typical case of a “mule” account being used to channel illicit funds. A mule account is used to funnel illicit funds generated from financial crimes, and the actual owner is not its user. Such accounts are created using fake or hired KYC, where someone lends their account in exchange for a commission.

Officials informed PTI that the ED came across the driver of the ride-hailing platform during their investigation into the 1xbet online betting-related money-laundering case.

₹331.36 cr between August 19, 2024 and April 16, 2025

Officials stated that the driver's bank account received deposits totaling ₹331.36 crore between August 19, 2024, and April 16, 2025. Alarmed by the "suspicious" multi-crore-rupee transactions within just eight months, the federal agency conducted a raid at the address listed in the driver's bank records.

Investigators discovered that the driver lived in a two-room shanty in a modest Delhi neighbourhood and spent his entire day on the road, driving his bike to make a living.

The driver reportedly told ED investigators during questioning that he had no knowledge of the bank transactions and could not identify the bride, groom, or their families, whose Udaipur wedding was "funded" through his account.

The ED found that the account received "large" deposits from multiple unidentified sources, which were "swiftly" rerouted to other suspicious accounts.

Officials said that one source of the funds deposited into this bank account is linked to illegal betting. Meanwhile, the agency is now verifying additional sources and destinations of the transactions conducted through this account, the report noted.