Chinese betting apps: ED seizes Rs 47 crore

New Delhi, Aug 30: The Enforcement Directorate has seized Rs 47 crore in bank accounts following a raids at 15 premises spread across Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune in connection with an illegal betting scandal involving Chinese nationals.

Chinese nationals have been accused of using Indians to carry out illegal online betting and also collecting Rs 1,300 crore.

It may be recalled that a Chinese national and three of his Indian associates were arrested in a crackdown on an illegal gambling racket.

The police said that the racket was being run by a China based company. The Chinese national and his associates were arrested by the Hyderabad police from Delhi. The police arrested the head of the company

Yah Hao, Dheeraj Sarkar, Ankit Kapoor and Neeraj Tuli.

The arrests took place after two men from Hyderabad lost Rs 1.64 lakh and Rs 97,000 respectively, while gambling online. The arrested persons have been booked for cheating and conspiracy.

The firms carried out transactions through two bank accounts. Though most of the money has already been transferred to different accounts the police were able to freeze Rs 30 crore parked in two accounts. The police say that they have unearthed remittances of up to Rs 1,100 crore.

Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar said at a press conference that he servers of the gaming websites are based in China. Data-hosting services are cloud-based in the US but operated from China. The entire technical operation is run by the China-based directors/partners of these companies. The payments were being routed through India-based payment service providers/gateways.

Online gambling was being organised by luring prospective gamers through Telegram groups. The entry is only through reference and members who introduced a certain number of prospective players are paid a commission. The administrators usually disclose the website on which the registered members can play and place betws. However these sites were changed on a daily basis, the police commissioner also said.