NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday announced the attachment of assets worth Rs 11.14 crore belonging to former cricketers Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to an alleged illegal betting operation reportedly involving over Rs 1,000 crore.

According to the federal agency, a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued to attach a commercial property in Delhi owned by Dhawan, valued at Rs 4.5 crore, and a mutual fund belonging to Raina, worth Rs 6.64 crore. The actions form part of the ongoing probe against the online betting platform 1xBet.

The ED's investigation revealed that the former cricketers "knowingly" signed endorsement deals with foreign entities to promote 1xBet and its affiliates.

"These endorsements were made in return for payments routed through foreign entities to conceal the illicit origin of the funds, which are linked to proceeds of crime generated from illegal betting activities," the agency alleged in a statement.

The ED, sources told PTI, considers the two assets as "proceeds of crime" of illegal betting. This ED order can be appealed against before the Adjudicating Authority of the PMLA and other legal forums.

There were no immediate comments from the two former cricketers. Dhawan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in August, while Raina hung his boots in 2020.

The ED also said it has detected 6,000 mule bank accounts (used to transact illicit money), searched four payment gateways that were used to route betting funds and identified 60 bank accounts linked to these platforms that hold deposits of more than Rs 4 crore.

Multiple police FIRs formed the basis for the federal agency to launch the probe against 1xBet and its surrogate brand, 1xBat.

1xBat sporting lines were engaged in promoting and facilitating illegal online betting and gambling operations across India, the agency has alleged.

Registered in Curacao, 1xBet is stated by the portal to be a globally-recognised bookmaker with 18 years of experience in the betting industry.

According to the ED, "1xBet operated in India without authorisation and used surrogate branding and advertisements to target Indian users through social media, online videos and print media. Payments for endorsements were structured through layered transactions using foreign intermediaries to disguise the illegal source of funds."

The probe has found that 1xBet was "facilitating" betting and gambling for Indian users by collecting money through various mule accounts. The ED has alleged that merchants were onboarded on these gateways "without" any KYC verification.

"On verification of profiles of these merchants, it is seen that the entities declared business activities that did not match their transaction patterns, indicating laundering of funds exceeding Rs 1,000 crore," the agency said.

The ED also cautioned people against indulging in online betting and gambling.

Any person knowingly assisting or allowing his account to be used for such activities may be prosecuted under the PMLA, which provides for imprisonment up to seven years and attachment of assets derived from such illegal transactions, it said.

The Centre, a few months ago, brought a law to ban real-money online gaming in India.

Apart from Dhawan and Raina, the ED has questioned sporting icons, such as Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, actors Sonu Sood, Urvashi Rautela (the Indian brand ambassador for 1xBet), Mimi Chakraborty (a former Trinamool Congress MP) and Ankush Hazra (Bengali actor) as part of the investigation.

According to estimates by market analysis firms and probe agencies undertaken before the government ban, there were about 22 crore Indian users on various such online betting apps and about 50 per cent of them were regular users.

"ED reiterates that illegal betting and gambling not only cause economic harm but also facilitate money laundering and financing of unlawful activities," the agency said.