Mahadev app case: ED searches EaseMyTrip co-founder Pitti in fresh raids
New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday searched the premises of online travel booking portal EaseMyTrip's co-founder Nishant Pitti as part of fresh multi-state raids in the Mahadev online betting app linked money laundering case, officials said.
The raids covered 55 locations including in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Indore, Jaipur, Chennai and Sambalpur in Odisha, the sources said.
The latest searches are a result of some fresh evidence gathered in the case, they said.
The premises and office of 39-year-old Pitti, also chairman of EaseMyTrip, in Delhi are also being covered, they said.
An email sent by PTI to the company seeking response on the ED action against their promoter remained unanswered till the publishing of this report.
According to the company's website, EaseMyTrip.com was established in 2008 and was founded by the Pitti brothers-- Nishant, Rikant, and Prashant.
The ED suspects some "proceeds of crime" from the illegal operations of the app (application) went to entities linked to Pitti.
The Mahadev betting app case made headlines after the federal probe agency claimed a few years back that many high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh are alleged to have been involved in the illegal operation and subsequent monetary transactions linked to the app.
Searches have been undertaken in this case in the past too.
The ED has alleged in the past that its probe in the Mahadev Online Betting (MOB) gaming and betting app has shown involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, the state where the two main promoters, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, of the app hail from.
It had said the MOB app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enroll new users, create user IDs and laundering of money through a layered web of benami bank accounts.
The agency has arrested 12 people in this case till now and has filed a total of four charge sheets.
It has also attached, frozen or seized properties worth Rs 2,426 crore.
The projected proceeds of crime in this case are about Rs 6,000 crore, as per the agency.
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Col Sofiya Qureshi left Ph.D, teaching career to join Army; patriotism runs in our blood: Family
Vadodara, May 7 (PTI): As Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh flanked Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Wednesday morning during the briefing about Operation Sindoor, creating a striking image, her family in Gujarat beamed with pride.
Col Sofiya, who hails from Vadodara city, had quit Ph.D and a teaching career to become an Army officer, they said. Her parents and brother Mohammad Sanjay Qureshi live in the Tandalja area of the city.
Talking to reporters at their home, Sanjay said Col Sofiya was on the verge of finishing her PhD when she decided to look beyond the classroom setting and don the olive-green uniform of the Indian Army.
Sanjay said his sister was inspired by their grandfather and father, as both had served in the Army.
“You can say that patriotism runs in our blood. After finishing school, Sofiya did BSc and then MSc in Biochemistry from MS University in Vadodara, as she wanted to become a professor,” Sanjay told reporters.
He was accompanied by his father Tajuddin Qureshi, mother Hanima and daughter Zara.
“My sister joined the varsity as an assistant lecturer while simultaneously pursuing Ph.D in the same subject as she wanted to become a professor. Meanwhile, she was selected in the Indian Army through the Short Service Commission (SSC) and decided to quit her Ph.D and teaching career to join the forces,” he said.
He said that the entire family is proud of her achievement.
Calling his sister a role model for Zara, Sanjay said his teenage daughter has also made up her mind to join the Army.
Col Sofiya’s father Tajuddin Qureshi said his family is concerned only about the country.
“I am proud of my daughter. My family has always followed the principle of ‘Vayam Rashtre Jagrayam’ (we will keep the nation awake and alive). We are Indian first, and Muslim afterwards. We are concerned only about our country,” he said.
During the briefing, Col Sofiya and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh flanked Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who delivered the opening statement from the government, hours after the Indian armed forces hit nine terror targets in Pakistan and PoK, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
Qureshi and Singh shared the names and details of the sites targeted by missiles from 1 am to 1.30 am on the intervening night of May 6-7. The military strikes were carried out under Operation Sindoor, two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
Later in the day, the Gujarat government said in a release that Col Sofiya did her masters in 1997 and then joined the Army’s Corps of Signals. Her husband is an officer in the Mechanised Infantry of the Indian Army, it said.
“In 2016, Col Sofiya achieved a historic feat as she became the first woman officer to lead an Indian military contingent abroad, becoming the only woman commander among the 18 countries participating in ‘Force 18’, a multinational military exercise involving ASEAN Plus countries,” said the release.
It added that she was deployed in Congo in 2006 during a six-year stint with the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations.
