Betting, Billionaires & Busts: ED Storms EaseMyTrip Premises in Multi-City Crackdown

During a nationwide operation on April 16, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched more than 15 places, including the office of EaseMyTrip founder and chairman Nishant Pitti, as part of its investigation in the high-profile case of Mahadev online betting app money laundering. The simultaneous raids took place in prominent cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Indore, Jaipur, Chennai, and Sambalpur.

 

The ED's move hit both individuals and corporate houses, with the alleged diversion of illegal betting proceeds via foreign portfolio investments and intricate networks of shell companies. The investigation has already linked a number of top politicians and bureaucrats, particularly from Chhattisgarh—app home state of main promoters Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal—to the operations of the syndicate.

 

Besides EaseMyTrip, offices of other listed companies were raided, with investigators examining investments connected to hawala operator Hari Shankar Tibrewal. The ED had already seized assets of over ₹580 crore linked to the case, involving suspected illegal gambling and cyber fraud of close to ₹15,000 crore.

 

The searches are continuing, with the ED likely to come out with more information as the probe into the Mahadev betting syndicate and its financial networks continues to unfold.

 

Source: Economic Times, CNBC-TV18, India Today