ED gets custody of 3 accused in online betting case involving Chinese nationals

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 22

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Tuesday a special court in Hyderabad has granted eight days custody of three accused arrested in connection with a money laundering case relating to the online betting Apps run by Chinese nationals.

Officials in the ED said the arrested suspects whose custody has been granted include Chinese national Yan Hao and two Indians---Dhiraj Sarkar and Ankit Kapoor. They were arrested by the agency on September 15, 2020, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as part of its probe in the case relating to the online betting APPs run by Chinese nationals, they said, adding that the custodial interrogation of the three accused is underway to unearth the entire scam, which suspected to be more than Rs 1,000 crore.

The officials said the ED initiated it probe under PMLA on the basis of FIRs lodged by Cyber Crime Station (CCS) of Hyderabad Police under various sections of IPC, Telangana State Gambling Act 2017 and Money Circulation Scheme Act against M/s Dokypay Technology Private Limited and M/s Linkyun Technolgy Private Limited and others involved in online betting scam.

Suspects floated several websites to lure gullible people and place bets on various apps that  promised attractive rewards

“Accused floated a large number of websites to attract gullible persons to become members and to place bets on various online Apps, which promised attractive rewards on simple games of chance. Paytm and Cashfree were used to collect money and pay commission to all these agent members,” said a senior ED official, while alleging that hundreds of websites were created to promote online betting under the garb of e-commerce.

Earlier, searches were conducted by the ED officials at 15 locations in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Pune, which resulted in seizure of 17 hard disks, five laptops, phones and crucial incriminating documents.

“The ED has also frozen Rs 46.96 crore held in four accounts in HSBC Bank,” the official said.

The ED later in a statement said, the ongoing investigation under PMLA is to identify the major beneficiaries of the Payouts from Paytm and HSBC bank accounts.

“Summons have also been issued to various persons including Chinese nationals, who are the directors of the company. It is suspected that these websites were also acted as payment aggregators for multiple Apps, which were banned by Google Play Store for lax technical security, data theft or betting activities,” it said, adding that these companies were also planning to set up a NBFC for micro credits but their license was declined by regulatory authorities.

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