12 hours Ago
MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has revealed that the operators of the Fairplay betting app siphoned off over ₹ 4,000 crore outside India through fake companies, dummy bank accounts, and illegal payment gateways. According to the ED’s chargesheet filed recently before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, the masterminds — Krish Laxmichand Shah, Chirag Shah, and Chintan Shah — routed the proceeds through 400 dummy bank accounts and bogus import transactions. The laundered funds were later invested in properties and businesses across the country.
Fairplay, a sports betting and online casino platform, is not legally registered in India. Besides betting, the app also illegally streamed events like IPL matches and even enabled betting on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the ED probe revealed. Investigators also found links between Fairplay and the Mahadev Online Book (MOB) platform, another illegal betting network under ED scrutiny.
The case originated from an FIR filed by Maharashtra Cyber Police in April 2023, following a complaint by Viacom18, which owns the IPL’s digital rights. Viacom alleged that Fairplay illegally streamed matches, causing a loss of approximately ₹ 100 crore. In February 2025, the ED arrested Chirag and Chintan Shah, brothers who oversaw Fairplay’s software operations.
Meanwhile, three owners of Maa Sharda Sales — a firm accused of laundering ₹ 13 crore of betting proceeds — were denied anticipatory bail. To build credibility and retain users, Fairplay operators reportedly returned nearly 70% of the collected funds back to players, ED officials said. Investigations uncovered a complex laundering trail.
Funds were first collected through dummy accounts in individuals’ names, then routed through shell companies such as NS Online Services, Dynamic Services, and Signox Overseas. Some proceeds were pushed into pharmaceutical firms engaged in fake billing, before finally being transferred to offshore entities in Hong Kong, China, and Dubai. Payment gateways like Beffy Finserv Pvt Ltd and Truefund Innovations India Pvt Ltd helped disguise transactions and facilitated payouts worth ₹ 3,000 crore, by misusing arrangements with Axis Bank.
Krish Shah, believed to be operating Fairplay from Dubai, established entities like Fair Play Sport LLC and Fairplay Management DMCC to manage operations in India. He even shifted the app’s domain registration to Dubai-based Anil Dadlani to conceal ownership. In a bid to expand their reach, Fairplay roped in several celebrities for promotional campaigns, offering free IPL match streaming to attract users.
These celebrities were later summoned by Maharashtra Cyber Police for endorsing the illegal platform. While Krish Shah and his associate Siddhant Iyer remain absconding, Chirag and Chintan Shah were arrested by the ED in February this year..
