Hyderabad: Chinese National Gets 8 Day ED Custody For Betting

Hyderabad: The special court dealing with Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases here has granted eight days of Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Chinese national Yan Hao, Dhiraj Sarkar and Ankit Kapoor from September 22 to 29.

The three were arrested by the ED on September 15 in connection with a money laundering case related to online betting apps run by Chinese nationals. The ED had initiated its investigation on the basis of FIRs lodged by the Cybercrime Station of Central Crime Station (CCS) of Hyderabad Police against Dokypay Technology Private Limited and Linkyun Technology Private Limited and others involved in the online betting scam.The suspects had floated a large number of websites to attract gullible persons to become members and to place bets on various online apps promising rewards on simple games of chance. Paytm and Cashfree were used to collect money and pay commission to these agent members, according to an ED release here.

Searches conducted by the ED at 15 locations in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune had resulted in seizure of hard disks, laptops, phones and crucial documents, with the ED also freezing Rs 46.96 crore held in four accounts in the HSBC bank. It said an investigation under PMLA to identify the major beneficiaries of the payouts from Paytm and HSBC Bank accounts was under progress. The summons have been issued to various persons including the Chinese nationals who are the directors of the company.

It is suspected that these websites also acted as payment aggregators for multiple apps that were banned by Google Play Store for lax technical security, data theft or betting activities. The custodial interrogation of the three accused was underway to unearth the entire scam, the release added.

The suspects had floated a large number of websites to attract gullible persons to become members and to place bets on various online apps promising rewards on simple games of chance. Paytm and Cashfree were used to collect money and pay commission to these agent members, according to an ED release here.

Searches conducted by the ED at 15 locations in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune had resulted in seizure of hard disks, laptops, phones and crucial documents, with the ED also freezing Rs 46.96 crore held in four accounts in the HSBC bank. It said an investigation under PMLA to identify the major beneficiaries of the payouts from Paytm and HSBC Bank accounts was under progress. The summons have been issued to various persons including the Chinese nationals who are the directors of the company.

It is suspected that these websites also acted as payment aggregators for multiple apps that were banned by Google Play Store for lax technical security, data theft or betting activities. The custodial interrogation of the three accused was underway to unearth the entire scam, the release added.

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