New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has frozen security holdings of more than Rs 580 crore of a Dubai-based "hawala operator" and seized cash and valuables worth Rs 3.64 crore after fresh raids in the Mahadev app-linked money laundering case, official sources said on Friday.
The latest raids were launched on February 28 at various premises in Kolkata, Gurugram, Delhi, Indore, Mumbai and Raipur. The ED probe in the Mahadev online gaming and betting app has indicated purported involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh.
The sources said the agency identified a "hawala operator", Hari Shankar Tibrewal in this case. He hails from Kolkata but currently resides in Dubai. He partnered with the promoters of the Mahadev app and also owned and operated an alleged illegal betting app -- skyexchange.
Security holdings worth Rs 580.78 crore "beneficially owned" by Tibrewal have been frozen by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.