New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday arrested a Delhi BJP office-bearer during its investigation into the multi-crore illegal betting case related to the Mahadev Online Book app. The accused, identified as Vikas Garg, is the national convener of the BJP’s Economic Cell in the national capital, and the son of former BJP MLA from Delhi’s Trinagar constituency, Nand Kishore Garg.
Days earlier, the agency had attached more than Rs 900 crore worth of assets belonging to Garg and his family members.
After taking him into custody at his Delhi residence, the ED produced him before the Tis Hazari court, which granted a transit remand. He will be produced before a special PMLA court in Raipur on Wednesday, sources in the agency said.
When ThePrint contacted Delhi BJP spokesperson Pravin Shankar Kapoor for comment, he said: “It may have been due to his business avenues, the party has nothing to do with it.”
The federal agency had opened a money laundering case based on dozens of FIRs registered by police in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and other states on the charge of illegal gambling. The ED’s investigation found that Mahadev Online Book was founded by two individuals, Sourabh Chandarkar and Ravi Uppal, from Bhilai district in Chhattisgarh.
According to the investigation, the application was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and soon created a web of online gambling and pyramid schemes to siphon off funds. People who used the platform were duped and the money was diverted to Uppal and Chandrakar through hawala channels.
According to sources in the agency, Garg’s role surfaced during the examination of the money trail from the Mahadev promoters to key intermediaries such as SkyExchange—another illegal online betting platform—and the subsequent movement of funds. Garg allegedly received funds laundered by the Mahadev promoters through SkyExchange and its Dubai-based promoter and alleged hawala operator, Hari Shankar Tibrewal.
“Garg himself has admitted during his statement under provisions of the PMLA that he indeed was a beneficiary of the illicit funds laundered by Mahadev promoters through SkyExchange,” an investigator told ThePrint on condition of anonymity. “Garg’s firm, Eraaya Lifespaces Limited, received funds to the tune of more than Rs 1,300 crore, which was used for acquitsion of majority stake in Ebix Group. Money trail of more than 50 percent of those funds has been established, leading to attachment, and further will be done in due course of investigation.”
Founded by Indian-born American industrial engineer Robin Raina, the Ebix Group filed for bankruptcy in the United States. The firm was then acquired by Garg’s Eraaya Lifespaces at around Rs 1,273.25 crore in August 2024, all of which allegedly came from SkyExchange.
Garg’s arrest comes days after the agency attached movable and immovable properties valued at approximately Rs 940.77 crore in connection with the case.
“The attached properties include residential properties, land parcels, equity shares and other securities. The attachment forms part of the ongoing money laundering investigation in the Mahadev Online Book/SkyExchange illegal online betting case,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement last week.
“Investigation revealed that proceeds of crime aggregating Rs 940.77 crore (approx) of the Mahadev Online Book/SkyExchange betting operations were, in this manner, routed into the entities owned and controlled by Vikas Garg. The funds were further layered through various entities and were utilised, inter alia, for acquisition of shares, securities and other assets,” the spokesperson had further said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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