Mahadev betting app case: Man booked under Gangsters Act held in Noida

Noida: The Noida police on Monday arrested a man who was booked under the UP Gangsters Act in connection with the multi-crore Mahadev betting app fraud case, officials said.

The accused is allegedly part of a gang involved in the racket from Noida and used to embezzle money from gullible people after luring them to place online bets, they said.

"On Monday, with the help of electronic surveillance and manual intelligence, accused Akshay Tiwari (29), a native of Jhansi district, was arrested from the Sector 37 bus stand here. He was wanted in the Gangsters Act case lodged at the local Sector 39 police station here" a police spokesperson said.

The Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act case, which included 18 accused, was lodged in November 2023 while the gang was booked for cheating and forgery in January last year with the police arresting the suspects, who were later released on bail, officials said.

Tiwari's arrest by Noida police comes two days after the Enforcement Directorate, which is separately investigating a money laundering case linked to online betting fraud, arrested two men in Chhattisgarh.

The projected proceeds of the crime in the case being investigated by the ED is around Rs 6,000 crore, according to agency officials.

On November 5 last year, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued blocking orders against 22 illegal betting apps and websites, including 'Mahadev Book' and 'Reddyannaprestopro'.

The action followed investigations conducted by the ED against an illegal betting app syndicate and subsequent raids on Mahadev Book in Chhattisgarh, revealing the app's unlawful operations.