New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating several Bollywood stars for their alleged involvement in a money laundering case related to a betting app called Mahadev. The app is run by Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, who are based in Dubai and have a global network of online gambling. The ED has arrested four people in the case so far, including two brothers Sunil Dammani and Anil Dammani, who are accused of operating the app in India.
The ED’s probe was triggered by the extravagant wedding of Saurabh Chandrakar in Dubai in February this year, where about 17 Bollywood celebrities were invited to perform. The ED suspects that the celebrities were paid crores of rupees through hawala channels for their participation. The ED also claims that a chartered plane was used to ferry the celebrities to and from Dubai.
According to ED sources, the celebrities who attended the wedding included Vishal Dadlani, Tiger Shroff, Sonakshi Sinha, Atif Aslam, Sunny Leone, Neha Kakkar, Ali Asgar, Bharti Singh, Bhagyashree, Pulkit Samrat, Elli Avram and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The ED has also named Ranbir Kapoor as one of the suspects for promoting a supporting app of Mahadev.
The ED has issued summons to some of the celebrities and may question others in the coming days. The agency has also seized several bank accounts and properties related to the case. The ED estimates that the total amount involved in the scam is around Rs 5,000 crore.
