ED Mumbai attaches Rs 219.66 crore in illegal cricket broadcast case across 3 states and 1 UT

The Mumbai Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Monday said it had provisionally attached movable assets in the form of Demat Account holdings and immovable assets in the form of land, flats, and commercial warehouses located across three states — Ajmer (Rajasthan), Kutch (Gujarat), Thane and Mumbai (Maharashtra) — and the Union Territory of Daman, collectively worth Rs 219.66 crore.

The action was taken on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as part of an ongoing investigation in the case of Fairplay, an online platform allegedly involved in the illegal broadcasting of IPL matches and various betting activities.

A statement on Monday said that the ED had initiated its investigation based on an FIR registered by Nodal Cyber Police in Mumbai, against M/s. Fairplay Sport LLC and others, on the complaint of M/s. Viacom18 Media Pvt Limited under various sections of IPC, Information Technology Act, and Copyright Act, for causing a loss of revenue of more than Rs 100 Crore (considered the proceeds of crime).

The ED investigation allegedly revealed that Krish Laxmichand Shah (the key accused behind Fairplay) had registered various companies such as M/s. Play Ventures NV and M/s. Dutch Antilles Management NV at Curacao (the Netherlands), M/s. Fair Play Sport LLC and M/s. Fairplay Management DMCC at Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and M/s. Play Ventures Holding Limited in the country of Malta, for the operations of “Fairplay”.

Fairplay is allegedly primarily operated by Shah from Dubai with the help of his associates such as Siddhant Shankaran Iyer (alias Joe Paul) allegedly looking after the financial aspects of Fairplay, and Chirag Shah and Chintan Shah allegedly after the technological and software development aspects, per the ED.

The agency’s investigation further allegedly revealed that Shah and his associates have acquired various movable and immovable assets from the proceeds of crime either in their names or in the name of their relatives and family members.

Earlier, the ED had conducted search operations in this case on June 12, August 27, September 27, and October 25 this year, and had seized/frozen various movable assets, “incriminating” documents, and digital devices. The total attachment and seizure in this case to date amounts to Rs 331.16 crore. Further investigation is underway.