ED or The Enforcement Directorate has attached fresh assets worth an estimate of Rs 219.66 crore. This includes land, flats, and Demat holdings, linked to a money laundering investigation into Fairplay. It said in a recent release that it is a company involved in illegal broadcasting and online betting. The case is against a website involved in suspicious online betting. It focused on the 2023 Lok Sabha election results. The website also illegally broadcast IPL cricket matches.
According to the central agency, Fairplay engaged in the illegal broadcasting of cricket and IPL matches. The company also engaged in various online betting activities, including bets on the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The total value of these assets is Rs 219.66 crore.
Viacom18 is the basis of the probe on a complaint. With assets obtained by proceeds of crime, ED investigations identified key figures behind Fairplay operating from Dubai. The total attachment of Rs 331.16 crore includes the value of earlier seizures.
For causing loss of revenue of more than Rs 100 crore, the money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Mumbai police cyber cell. Viacom18 Media Pvt Limited filed the complaint against Fairplay LLC and others.
The latest action involves the provisional attachment of both movable and immovable assets linked to the Fairplay group, a company accused of unlawfully broadcasting cricket matches. This includes the IPL or Indian Premier League, and other different online betting operations.
The attached assets include demat account holdings and valuable real estate properties located in various places across India, such as Ajmer (Rajasthan), Kutch (Gujarat), Daman, Thane, Mumbai, and Maharashtra. The authorities have linked these properties and financial holdings to the proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002.
