The accused, most of whom are out on bail, were operating out of the city to lure people into online betting via the gaming application ‘Mahadev’. The nexus, police believe, is worth over Rs 4,000 crore with promoters of the betting syndicate allegedly sitting in Dubai.
“We have initiated action against the 18 people arrested in the case under the stringent Gangsters Act. We will also attach their properties under Section 14(1) of the Act,” additional DCP Shakti Avasthy said.
The perpetrators lured people by posting contact numbers on websites, enticing them to participate and profit. These contact numbers were accessible via platforms like WhatsApp.
“When users reach out to these numbers, they were made to choose a website on which they would like to play live games such as poker, card games, etc and pay a minimum subscription amount of Rs 100. Users were also allowed to place bets during these games,” DCP Harish Chander told TOI.
After each initial round, the criminals would give hefty returns on sums invested. This was enough to lure users to invest more money the next time. “When a user placed a bet of a huge amount, the suspects would immediately block his account and reroute the money,” Chander said.
Earlier, the accused were arrested under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 471 (using forged document or electronic record as genuine) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and section 66D (cheating using communication device or computer) of the IT Act.