The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money-laundering case against a Chinese national and his three Indian accomplices, in connection with an illegal online gambling business involving transactions worth over ₹1,100 crore.
The online gambling was being run by various entities, which functioned allegedly under the China-based “Beijing T Power Company.”
Acting on complaints of cheating, the Hyderabad Police arrested Yah Hao, who headed the Southeast Asia operations, Ankit Kapoor, Neeraj Tuli and Dheeraj Sarkar, in Delhi last week. Based on the case registered by the Hyderabad Police, the ED has initiated money laundering investigation against the accused persons and entities.
It is alleged that those running the websites manipulated results, thereby cheating those placing bets. The funds were diverted to various accounts to evade detection. The police managed to track a couple of accounts and intercepted about ₹30 crore. The accounts have been frozen.
Preliminary findings indicated that the websites were using servers located in China, while the data hosting services were cloud-based in the United States. The funds were routed via service providers and gateways in India.
Police have so far identified eight entities that were operating allegedly under the Beijing T Power Company. The prospective punters were targeted via an encrypted mobile messaging application. Commissions were also paid to those bringing in players and entry was allowed through references.
