Tejas Navale

Pune: Shocking information has come to light from the primary investigation of the Pune Rural Police in connection with the Mahadev Book Betting App case. In the police investigation, police found that the accused had opened approximately 452 bank accounts in 16 banks for the financial exchange of betting money through the Mahadev Book Betting App. Now, Pune police are investigating whether this money has been transferred abroad for anti-national activities or not.

Earlier last week, Pune police raided a building in Narayangaon, Pune, from which they seized goods worth 62,74,000 rupees. In that police action, 93 people have been arrested, out of whom five have been kept in police custody and 88 in judicial custody.

In a press conference on Friday, Superintendent of Police Pankaj Deshmukh informed that out of the 93 accused, Kunal Sunil Bhat, Sameer Yunus Pathan, Rashid Kamal Sharifullah, Amjad Khan, Sardar Khan, and Yash Rajendra Singh Chauhan are in police custody and were working as managers of the company.

In this operation, the police have seized 45 laptops, 89 mobiles, and 101 mobiles used by the accused, along with 452 passbooks and debit cards. This action was taken by the team of Additional Superintendent Ramesh Chopde, Sub-Divisional Officer Satyasai Karthik, and Ravindra Choudhari, under the guidance of Local Crime Investigation Branch Inspector Avinash Shilimkar, Kiran Awachar, and Satish Hodgar.

During their investigation, the police uncovered the modus operandi of the accused. They explained that searching for "Mahadev Book App" on social media or the internet would lead to a link. Clicking this link would open a WhatsApp account. The accused in Narayangaon were distributing these links over there. Preliminary findings revealed that individuals were using these links to place bets on this app.

Police further informed that Hrithik Kothari and Salman Mirajkar, alias Pathan of Narayangaon, and Raj Bakoria of Junnar are the masterminds behind this case, and they took the building on lease one and a half to two months ago under the pretence of starting a business process outsourcing (BPO) from the building. The investigation has also revealed that youths from all over the country were working in this building, which was being run under the name of BPO.

Pankaj Deshmukh, police superintendent of Pune Rural Police, said that an investigation regarding the connection of Hawala money is going on. He said, "Was the money received through the 'Mahadev Book App' diverted abroad? Was it used for subversive activities? An investigation regarding whether more bank accounts were used for 'betting' is going on. In accordance with that, the investigation of the accused is going on, and the 'forensic audit' of the bank accounts is being done."

Meanwhile, Narayangaon Deputy Sarpanch Babu Pate informed that the village panchayat had not given permission for any business in the building used for betting