Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to a case pertaining to the Mahadev betting app money laundering case. Ranbir Kapoor ticked the investigative agencies when he attended a ₹ 200-crore wedding in the UAE that happened in February was being probed.
The wedding was of Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of the online betting platform, who married in Ras Al-Khaimah in February. Reports say the entire ₹ 200-crore was paid in cash.
“In February 2023, Sourabh Chandrakar got married at RAK, UAE, and for this marriage ceremony, the promoters of Mahadev APP spent around ₹ 200 Crore in Cash,” the ED said in a statement dated September 15.
Kapoor has sought two weeks to appear before ED.
Let’s take a look how Ranbir Kapoor ended up in the crosshairs of probe agencies
Mahadev betting app owners
Two residents of Chhattisgarh’s Bhilai have caught the attention of Enforcement Directorate. The investigative agency has issued non-bailable warrants and lookout circulars for Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal. They began the platform in Dubai later in 2018.
According to NDTV report, the Mahadev betting app duo’s network is not only in India but also in the UAE, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. The ED has frozen and seized assets worth ₹ 417 crore in connection with the Mahadev online betting case.
The rpeort further states that Sourabh Chandrakar used to own a juice shop in Bhilai’s Nehru Nagar, while Ravi Uppal owned a tyre shop.
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What is the fraud of Mahadev Betting app?
The company, which was running operations from Dubai, allegedly used the online book betting application to enroll new users, create user IDs and launder money through a layered web of benami bank accounts, officials say.
The company promoted by Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal was being operated from Dubai. The ED investigation has shown that the Mahadev Online Book App is run from a central head office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said. It operates by franchising “Panel/Branches” to their known associates on a 70-30 profit ratio, the agency had said.
The UAE wedding
Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of the online betting platform, married Ras Al-Khaimah in February. According to reports, private jets were hired to fly down family members of the wedding party.
Further, celebrities performed in the wedding functions and a Mumbai-based events firm handled the extravaganza. All of this was paid for in cash, which in turn alerted ED.
Celebrities such as Vishal Dadlani, Tiger Shroff, Atif Aslam, Sunny Leone, Neha Kakkar, Ali Asgar, Bharti Singh, Bhagyashree, Pulkit Samrat, Elli Avram, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, reports Firstpost.
Ranbir Kapoor and Mahadev Betting app
The Barfi star appears for the promotional activities for the app and starred in its social media ads of the Mahadev betting app. According to reports, Ranbir Kapoor received money from the app’s promoters to perform at the lavish UAE wedding.
Notably, the fraud began with a Whatsapp number on this advertisement that Kapoor gleamingly featured on.
The payment made–in cash.
The Enforcement Directorate is now treating these cash payment as proceeds in the crime.
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