The promoters of the Mahadev betting app hired celebrities to advertise for their platform and perform in their events, and bribed politicians, bureaucrats, and senior police officials for “protection”, Enforcement Directorate sources told News18. But apart from the regular nexus-building operations with influential people, they allegedly hired over 500 young professionals with knowledge in IT to run their network and link the client IDs with banks, shell companies, and then hawala accounts. The professionals “rigged” the game daily to match that day’s probable predictions and to allegedly “defraud” the clients, who are common people. The professionals are called “panel members”.
“This is a new and interesting phenomenon in the whole operation of such an app. The panel members are the backbone of the system. They were hired from low-income groups, and from several countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, apart from many locations in India. To run the operation, a panel member just needs a device and stable internet,” said a senior ED officer, who is part of the investigation.
The panel members earn a ‘cut’ or a commission on the payment they receive from every client. ” After keeping a certain commission for themselves, the panel members send the money through hawala operators to the shell companies and then subsequently to offshore accounts. The total number of panel members may go as high as 500 or more. We are still working on that. Many of them are complicit with the crime committed,” added the officer.
Panel members to hawala operators
According to the investigators, an army of young professionals has been running the apps for the last five years. “They earn easy money and there is no accountability. There are syndicates that identify such professionals. They convince them and hire the willing ones. This is another huge racket,” said a source in the ED.
The panel members build the interface, put the WhatsApp number on the screen, and share the link with the client. “The numbers are dynamic. So are the names of the sites. They keep changing the names. The panel members are actually the foot soldiers who run this huge operation undercover,” he added.
Many of these panel members later turn hawala operators, who send money to various offshore accounts. They share the sensitive details of the clients and can hack into their phones through the links. The entire operation is illegal. “However, betting apps are addictive. The gamers win initially, but then they start losing. The app is designed like that. Every time, one app is banned or withdrawn, they launch another app with a new name and a new entity,” he added.
The background
The company promoted by Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal was being operated from Dubai and was allegedly using the online book betting application to enrol new users, create IDs, and launder money through a layered web of benami bank accounts, the ED has alleged.
The Mahadev app offered online platforms for alleged illegal betting in different live games including cricket, tennis, badminton, poker, and card games.
Several Bollywood celebrities and actors such as Ranbir Kapoor, Kapil Sharma and Hina Khan are under the ED’s scanner for receiving money from the promoters of the app for endorsing their product.
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