Hyderabad: Nearly four years after the central crime station (CCS) Hyderabad registered a case linked to Chinese-run illegal betting apps, the city’s cybercrime police have taken over the probe and re-registered the case, investigating into a massive money laundering racket involving ₹443 crore allegedly routed to Hong Kong-based companies.The case originated from a complaint filed by Enforcement Directorate deputy director BS Saravana Kumaran on Sept 9, 2021. The ED had flagged suspicious financial transactions linked to Chinese-owned betting apps operating in India, which funnelled huge sums collected through illegal gambling activities to shell companies abroad.According to the ED’s complaint, the illicit funds were moved through Indian entities based in Delhi and Mumbai. These included firms such as Great Trans International, Asia Pacific Cargo Company, Radiant Spark Technology, Achiever Biz International, Connecting Worldwide, and Genex Shipping Private Ltd, under the guise of payments for cloud services and freight forwarding. “The addresses of all the said companies were found to be fake, and summons sent to them remained undelivered,” the ED alleged.Kumaran alleged that on the basis of a cheating case registered by Hyderabad cybercrime police station on July 25, 2020, under relevant sections of the IPC and the Gaming Act, ED Hyderabad registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) on Aug 17, 2020, regarding online betting involving persons/companies of Chinese origin and others for investigation.The ED traced over ₹85.95 crore in transfers from two Gurgaon-based companies—Linkyun Technology Private Ltd and Dokypay Technology Private Ltd, both allegedly involved in online betting—to the six Indian firms mentioned. In total, ₹443 crore was allegedly routed to Hong Kong through this elaborate web.“The Chinese directors of Linkyun and Dokypay have absconded, raising further suspicions about the operations. The money trail investigation showed that funds collected through banned Chinese betting apps were channelled through e-wallets and remitted to Hong Kong-based firms,” the ED alleged in its report.The original case began in July 2020, when a Hyderabad resident reported losing ₹97,000 to a colour prediction game hosted on a Chinese betting platform. That complaint led the cybercrime police to file a chargesheet in 2021 against 14 individuals, including Chinese national Yan Hao, and the case remained under trial.However, despite the ED’s detailed allegations and financial trail, CCS had not made any arrests in the 2021 case. Acknowledging this, a senior cybercrime official said, “No arrests have been made by the CCS in the case. They issued notices to some of the accused and recorded their statements. We will now look into the evidence gathered so far and decide on the future course of investigation.”As the complaint overlapped with the ongoing 2020 case handled by the cybercrime unit, joint commissioner of police (crime) ordered the transfer of the ED-linked investigation to them. The case was formally re-registered on May 3 under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), read with 34 (common intention) of the IPC.With the case now back in the hands of cybercrime police, authorities are expected to take a fresh look at the evidence trail, financial documents, and digital footprints.
