Illegal online betting: ED freezes Rs 5.87 cr

The ED said it has freezed Rs 5.87 crore in the form of balances available in the bank accounts of various individuals and entities in a case related to illegal online betting.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has freezed Rs 5.87 crore in the form of balances available in the bank accounts of various individuals and entities in a case related to illegal online betting in Bengaluru under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED started investigation based on an FIR registered by Vivek Nagar Police Station, Bengaluru on a complaint received from the office of Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI), Bengaluru alleging involvement of companies in online gambling, betting and suspicious illegal activities.

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The ED investigation revealed that different companies were registered by the accused persons Shyamala N, and Umar Farooq using the documents of other persons.

The HR manager of the companies has illegally purchased many sim cards and linked them to bank accounts for transacting online.

It was further revealed that the group entities viz., Rockstar Interactive, Indie World Studio, Falcon Entertainment Agencies, The Next Level Technology, Rift Gamer Technologies, Reality Code Technology, Tenes Solutions, Electronic Virtual Solutions, Zazago Systems, Zynga Interactive, Whale Bytes Technology, Iobitcode Interactive Agency, Oculus Valve Entertainment and Nestra Web Solutions were created with a fraudulent intention to collect amounts from public by cheating them in the name of betting/gambling through sites viz., bestartech, khelo24bet and betinexchange.