(From left to right) Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and actors Sonu Sood and Urvashi Rautela. (Source: Instagram)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday provisionally attached movable and immovable assets valued at Rs 18.10 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), targeting the illegal online betting platform 1xBet. With this attachment, total assets seized in the case now stand at Rs 37.23 crore.
“The agency’s investigation uncovered that 1xBet operated without authorisation in India, promoting betting and gambling through multiple mirror websites. Funds were collected via dynamically generated UPI IDs linked to mule bank accounts,” an ED spokesperson said in a statement.
According to ED, the action follows investigations into illegal operations of the offshore betting platform 1xBet and its surrogate brands 1xBat and 1xBat Sporting Lines. “Probe has also revealed that Parthtech Developers LLP, which runs high-traffic cricket platforms CREX and OneCricket, signed structured ad agreements with Bwise Media AG, Switzerland, to promote 1xBet and similar illegal platforms. Statements under Section 50 of PMLA confirmed that 1xBet ads were directly booked, geo-targeted, and run on CREX via Parthtech’s in-house server, Parth Adex,” the spokesperson said.
Last year, ED provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 7.93 crore of several celebrities, including former cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa and actors Urvashi Rautela, Sonu Sood, former TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty, Ankush Hazra, and Neha Sharma, in connection with the case. Before that, the agency attached assets worth Rs 11.14 crore linked to former cricketers Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina in the same case.
“The probe revealed that the celebrities knowingly entered into endorsement agreements with foreign entities linked to 1xBet, accepting payments routed through overseas intermediaries to conceal the illicit origin of funds. These payments were connected to proceeds of crime generated through illegal betting and gambling activities,” the spokesperson added.
Curated by Shiv Shakti Mishra
