Representative image of a betting app on phone and laptop.
Credit: iStock
The Gujarat police has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe a large-scale betting racket through a football application allegedly led by a Chinese national. He is alleged to have duped at least 1,175 people in Gujarat of hundreds of crores of rupees.
The Chinese national and his two local aides wanted in the case are suspected to have duped hundreds of people in three other states - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
According to CID (crime) officials, the scam was first reported in Palanpur, where an FIR was registered for cheating and breach of trust, among other complaints. As the number of victims kept increasing, the case was handed over to the CID. The investigation revealed that between December 2021 to June 2022, hundreds of victims fell prey to DaniData, the sports-betting app in question.
A police officer, who is part of the investigation, told DH that among the prime accused is a Chinese national, who has been identified as Woo Uyanbe. Police believe that Uyanbe left the country long before the crackdown. A look out notice was issued against him and two other co-accused - Nayan Shah and Lakhan Thakkar.
The police officer said that so far ten accused have been arrested while three including Uyanbe, Shah and Thakkar are absconding.
CID is set to file a supplementary chargesheet soon. In the first chargesheet filed earlier in March this year, the CID had found that the total scam could be worth as much as Rs 4,000 crore.
"We have sent a report to Enforcement Directorate (ED), showing Rs 2,300 crore being siphoned off to offshore accounts. It is a case of money laundering and that's why we intimated ED to look into it," said the police officer who is part of the investigation. He added that he had no idea if the ED has taken any action.
Another police officer told DH that most of the victims are from Banaskantha and Patan districts in north Gujarat, which are infamous as "gambling hubs."
Police said that the app predicts goals in football matches being played in European nations. The victims were lured into investing with promises of return as high as 75 per cent. Police have found links of promotions of this app not only in Gujarat but states such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh through social media accounts. They said that it is highly likely that people in these states also were cheated.