New Delhi/Raipur, Sep 21 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate has chargesheeted EaseMyTrip co-founder Nishant Pitti in the Mahadev online betting app money laundering case, charging him with “facilitating” proceeds of illegal betting into the equity market under the guise of foreign portfolio investments.
The federal agency also attached Pitti’s DEMAT shares worth Rs 59.60 crore through a provisional order issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) when filing the chargesheet on September 10 before a special court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought the court’s nod to “confiscate” these shares, calling them “proceeds of crime” under the anti-money laundering law.
A response is awaited from the online travel booking company on the charges levelled in the ED chargesheet.
Officials told PTI that the charges against Pitti (40), chairman-cum-managing director at EaseMyTrip, were furnished in the fifth supplementary chargesheet filed before a special PMLA court in Raipur.
The ED named 42 individuals and companies in the chargesheet, including EBIX Group Chairman Vikas Garg (53). The agency arrested Garg in July after raiding his Delhi home. He is currently lodged in jail under judicial custody.
Soon after his arrest, the Delhi BJP removed Garg as its economic cell convenor and also cancelled his primary party membership.
The Mahadev app, also known as the Mahadev Online Book (MOB), is primarily promoted by two Chhattisgarh-based absconding businessmen – Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal. It is alleged to have generated proceeds of crime worth Rs 80,000 crore since 2019.
The duo has an Interpol Red Notice issued against them.
The ED carried out searches against Pitti in April 2025 and questioned him thrice, including twice this August. EaseMyTrip had then denied any direct or indirect association with the Mahadev betting app or any other betting platform.
The agency said in the chargesheet that the “evidence” gathered shows Pitti was a “close associate” of Hari Shankar Tibrewal, the Dubai-based owner of the “illegal” betting platform Skyexchange.
According to officials, the chargesheet said evidence revealed that Pitti was “directly involved” in facilitating the entry of crime proceeds into the Indian equity market under the guise of foreign portfolio investments (FPIs).
It added that Pitti, on behalf of the promoters of Easy Trip Planners Ltd, the holding company of EaseMyTrip, entered into a pre-arranged stock price “manipulation” deal with an associate of Tibrewal to artificially inflate that company’s share price and market capitalisation.
The ED is understood to have said in the chargesheet that Pitti “actively and willingly” assisted Tibrewal in layering the proceeds of crime generated from Skyexchange and knowingly acquired, possessed, concealed and utilised the proceeds, making him liable to be charged under the anti-money laundering law.
The agency said that EaseMyTrip co-sponsored a cricket series in India in 2022 along with Skyexchange, “proving” their close operational nexus.
It said Tibrewal was “controlling” some foreign entities (companies) and was using them for laundering the crime proceeds generated from Skyexchange by investing in Indian share markets.
On Garg’s role, the agency alleged that he and his entities received Rs 765.77 crore from certain entities “owned/controlled” by Tibrewal. Garg used these funds to acquire US-based Ebix.Inc, the ED is believed to have said in the chargesheet.
It added that Garg “admitted” in his statement recorded under the PMLA that the amounts were received from Tibrewal’s overseas entities even after knowing that the latter was involved in “illegal betting” and these were part of the proceeds of crime generated at Skyexchange.
The ED said its probe found that Skyexchange, which began operations in 2016, has generated proceeds of crime worth about Rs 12,000 crore till now.
The agency told the court that this was its sixth chargesheet (one main and five supplementary) in the case and that the investigation against all the accused, except three, was complete.
The ED arrested 14 persons, attached assets worth Rs 1,885 crore, named 116 accused in its six chargesheets and conducted searches on 190 premises across the country in the PMLA case registered in October 2022 based on FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Chhattisgarh Police. PTI NES ARI
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