MOB probe: ED freezes shares worth

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two more operators of Mahadev Online Book (MOB), an illegal online betting platform, and has frozen shares valued at ₹1,186 crore during its searches conducted at 20 locations, including Pune and Kolkata, in the last two weeks.
The agency, based on FIRs registered by the Chhattisgarh police and subsequently by several other police stations in the country, is probing money-laundering charges against MOB and its Dubai-based promoters, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal.
Girish Talreja, one of the two arrested by the ED, was an alleged stakeholder in a MOB subsidiary, Lotus365, along with Chandrakar. Talreja was also part of the “cash handling WhatsApp Group” of its Pune franchise whose premises were searched by the agency on March 1, an officer said and added ₹1 crore in cash was seized. The branch was allegedly handling betting cash of ₹50 crore a month.
Talreja and Suraj Chokhani were arrested on March 2 and 3, respectively. A special court in Raipur (Chhattisgarh) remanded them in the ED’s custody till March 11.
The ED’s investigation also revealed that a Dubai-based suspected hawala operator, Hari Shankar Tibrewal, who is part of MOB’s money-laundering network, was allegedly involved in the manipulation of stock market/s in collusion with promoters of several listed companies, agency sources said. Tibrewal would create temporary fluctuations in share prices, drive them upwards, and then withdraw funds once the prices reached a desirable level, the sources said.
The ED recently froze security holdings worth ₹580.78 crore belonging to Tibrewal, who the agency identified as the third partner of the wanted MOB promoters. Tibrewal had allegedly partnered with the MOB promoters and allegedly owned and operated an illegal betting website, skyexchange, and laundered the proceeds of crime through multiple companies operating in India and abroad. Chokhani allegedly had such firms under his control that were employed by Tibrewal to launder proceeds of crime under the garb of share investments, the ED sources said.
The searches conducted on February 28 and 29 on the premises of Tibrewal’s associates, including Chokhani’s Kolkata premises, allegedly revealed that most of the sources for these investments were collected by way of bank entries against cash deposited by these companies.
As part of its inter-state investigation, the ED has so far seized/frozen movable assets worth ₹1,764.5 crore during searches carried out under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and arrested 11 people.
Chandrakar and Uppal were recently detained in Dubai based on Interpol’s red corner notices issued at the behest of the ED. The agency is trying to have them deported or extradited to India, officials said.