Last Updated: October 04, 2023, 19:15 IST
Mahadev betting scam: The money paid to Ranbir Kapoor is being looked at as proceeds of the crime. (PTI File)
Ranbir Kapoor was paid the highest amount to promote the Mahadev online betting app on social media. A dozen A-listers, which includes Bollywood, Tollywood actors and sportspersons, 100 influencers, and 14 celebrities, who attended a wedding event organised by the promoters in Dubai, will also be summoned in the Rs 5,000-crore scam
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday summoned Hindi film actor Ranbir Kapoor on Friday as part of its investigation into the Mahadev online betting app scam, in which four people have been arrested from Chhattisgarh.
News18 had on September 19 reported how 17 Bollywood stars were under the scanner in the scam.
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According to ED sources, apart from Kapoor, more than a dozen A-listers, including Bollywood, Tollywood actors and sportspersons, are on their radar. Kapoor is the highest paid among these people and he advertised for the app on social media.
More than 100 influencers, who promoted the app, will also be eventually summoned by the central agency. Moreover, more than 14 celebrities, who attended a wedding event organised by the app promoters in Dubai, will also be summoned.
WHY HAS RANBIR KAPOOR BEEN SUMMONED?
Mahadev app promoters Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal allegedly used money earned from the betting to pay celebrities.
The ED probe suggests that Kapoor was paid by promoters of the Mahadev app in lieu for endorsing it on social media. The amount is now considered ‘proceeds of crime’. The ED has not yet revealed the amount the actors, including Kapoor, and influencers received for the promotion.
APP BASED IN UAE
The online betting app is based out of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
To get clients, the app had set up call centres, which were routed through the Netherlands, UAE, Nepal and Sri Lanka. When customers called these centres, they were given a WhatsApp number, where they had to share their details. The details were then shared with panel operators in India, operating primarily in Mumbai and Delhi, and also in some smaller cities such as Chandigarh and Chattisgarh.
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There were 4,000-5,000 such panel operators.
DAILY PROFIT OF Rs 200 CR, SCAM WORTH Rs 5,000 CR
The company was allegedly using the online book betting application to enrol new users, create user IDs and launder money through a layered web of benami bank accounts. Here’s how:
- The panel operators used to initiate bank transactions with customers through UPI and bank accounts. The operators used to ask the customers to transfer the money to their fake bank accounts.
- As a part of the procedure, to keep customers happy, around 60% of the amount paid by them to the app was given back to the customers. The remaining 40% of the invested amount was kept with the panel operators. These panel operators used to get 70% of this amount as their profit and the remaining 30% used to go back to the app through hawala channels.
- “The average daily profit of these panel operators was anywhere between Rs 150-200 crore. The panel operators settled the account with the Mahadev app every Monday. Panel operators were only appointed on reference from an operator. Some of these operators handled hundreds of stations,” said an ED officer.
- The monetary value of the scam is already estimated to have reached Rs 5,000 crore and may rise further as the investigation progresses.
