India’s Mahadev probe sees 14 arrested for illicit IPL betting

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has continued its operation into the Mahadev betting platform with the arrest of 14 bookmakers across three states. 

In Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Assam, the operators have been detained for taking unapproved bets on Indian Premier League cricket games. 

Specifically, the group of 14 has been accused of running three “panels” on Mahadev, known as L95 Lotus, Lotus 651, and LOTUS 656. The panels are online portals that contain varied gambling offerings for users.

A senior police officer revealed that three of the detained group purchased the panels (via other protagonists) from the owners of the Mahadev platform. 

As part of an extensive, wide-ranging investigation, the CBI is currently probing allegations of collusion between the promoters of Mahadev and senior government officials, politicians, and prominent public figures, which is facilitating an illegal gambling ring.

The latest update in the major probe resulted in the capture of an array of personal devices and digital tools.

67 phones, eight laptops, four routers, 94 bank cards, 15 SIM cards, and a camera were seized, as well as betting record books.

Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Lal Umed Singh also detailed, “So far, we have frozen 500 bank accounts with transactions worth crores.”

“We have written to banks to freeze a total of 1,500 bank accounts of accused and bettors, with crores of transactions, which include Mahadev app and other gambling apps too.”

In related news last month, the Digital India Foundation (DIF) blasted the impact of offshore betting companies operating illegally in the country. 

A headline report has warned that the issue will only intensify if the regulatory framework is not toughened to meet the rising threat, which can be linked to the Mahadev case.

India’s online gaming population is nearly 450 million people strong, ranging from mobile gaming to gambling, but findings from the Digital India Foundation (DIF) report show that four illegal gambling operators account for 1.6 billion visits in just three months.

Some of these websites might sound familiar, with Stake, 1xBet, BateryBet, and Parimatch named as the leading offenders. DIF claims that the Indian government and authority response is “fragmented”, and that current approaches are “not enough”.

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