- Tuesday, April 16, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out raids at a fintech company in Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat that was allegedly using as many as 150 bank accounts to layer money generated from illegal betting.
The accused, Rakesh R Rajdev and others, transacted Rs 170.70 crore (£16.8 million) using a bank account opened in the name of an individual named Akash Ojha, without taking his consent. The money is suspected to have been generated through the online betting website www.wolf777.com, the agency said in an official statement, the Hindu BusinessLine reported.
Following the searches that were carried out on Monday (27), the ED said an amount of Rs 3.05 crore (£300,846) lying in these bank accounts were frozen under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
According to ED, it initiated the investigation after recording an enforcement case information report based on a first-information report registered by the DCB police station of Ahmedabad. The local police charged that he had fraudulently used Ojha’s identity documents to open an account and transferred Rs 170.70 crore of betting money.
“During PMLA investigations, it has been found that the accused are operating through a private communication platform and providing the login Id and password to the persons who want to place bets online. This website is providing a platform for placing bets on various types of speculation games such as ‘Teen Patti’, ‘Rummy’, ‘Andar Bahar’,’Poker’ and also on various live games including cricket matches,” the agency said, according to the report.
Customers are asked to deposit money in their accounts for buying credits/coins online and once it is deposited, the person can place bets in the website using log-in credentials, the ED added.
