Mumbai police arrest actor Sahil Khan in Mahadev betting app case
Mumbai, Apr 28: The Mumbai cyber cell's SIT on Sunday arrested actor Sahil Khan in connection with the Mahadev betting app case, a police official here said.
The actor was apprehended from Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday after the Bombay High Court rejected his pre-arrest bail plea, he said.
He was subsequently brought to Mumbai and placed under arrest, the official said.
Khan was recently questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed in connection with the case.
The actor, known for films like ‘Style’ and ‘Excuse Me’, has become a fitness expert.
The Mumbai police had earlier arrested one person in connection with the case, the official said.
Khan is the second person to be arrested by the city police in the case, he said.
The SIT has been conducting a probe into the alleged illegal transactions between certain financial and real estate firms in the state and the promoters of the controversial Mahadev betting app.
The size of the scam is about Rs 15,000 crore, as per the first information report (FIR) registered by the Matunga police here in the case.
An investigation is underway against Khan and 31 other individuals. The probe involves examining their bank accounts, mobile phones, laptops, and all technical equipment, according to the police.
While the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating money laundering angle in the Mahadev betting app case, Mumbai police have registered a separate case against 32 persons.
Notably, Chhattisgarh’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)/Economic Offence Wing (EOW) on April 24 said it has arrested two persons - from New Delhi and Goa - in connection with the alleged illegal operations of the Mahadev online gaming and betting application that purportedly involved senior politicians and bureaucrats from that state.
The ED has separately arrested nine persons so far as part of its probe in the money laundering-linked case.
#WATCH | Actor Sahil Khan brought to Mumbai from Chhattisgarh. He has been arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch's SIT in connection with the Mahadev Betting App case.
— ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2024
“I believe in the judiciary of the country, " he says pic.twitter.com/HirOzizuXb
#WATCH | Mahadev Betting App case | Mumbai: Actor Sahil Khan's lawyer Mujahid Ansari says, "They wanted a remand to investigate. They had produced their ground in the Session Court and the High Court that there are 2000 SIM cards and 1700 bank accounts... The court has sent him… pic.twitter.com/rsJNeZ5VMo
— ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2024
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West Bengal: BJP holds protest against Sandeshkhali videos, TMC worker 'heckled'
Sandeshkhali (WB), May 12: BJP workers on Sunday demonstrated against the circulation of purported videos "to malign the image" of saffron party leaders in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali, and allegedly heckled the local TMC legislator for spreading "misinformation" over complaints of sexual abuse, lodged by women in the area.
They also beat up a local TMC activist in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district for allegedly being involved in "disseminating false information about atrocities on women" in the area.
Led by BJP's Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency candidate Rekha Patra, the protestors demonstrated in front of Sandeshkhali Police station, also demanding the release of a party activist arrested in a "false dacoity" case.
Patra accused police of "slapping trumped-up charges on BJP activists" in Sandeshkhali, while "turning a blind eye to the filming and circulation of fake videos" implicating her party leaders and women in the area.
A section of women protestors allegedly dragged the local TMC activist from a house and beat him up in the presence of the party's Sandeshkhali MLA Sukumar Mahata who was there for campaigning, a leader of the ruling party claimed.
As Mahata tried to intervene he was allegedly shoved by the protestors, he said.
Mahata blamed Patra and her supporters for "orchestrating" the attack on the local TMC activist, stating that the "BJP's gameplan to defame Bengal is clear before the people of the state".
"The BJP broke all precedents and tried to disrupt our campaign but we did not retaliate," he said.
A team of police personnel rushed to the spot and managed to rescue the TMC activist.
The riverine Sandeshkhali area — situated on the borders of the Sundarbans, about 100 kilometres from Kolkata — had been on the boil in February with protests over allegations of sexual abuse and land grab against now arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters.
In a purported video that surfaced from Sandeshkhali on Saturday night, a local BJP leader was heard saying that over 70 women had received Rs 2,000 each for taking part in protests against local TMC satrap Sheikh and his aides who were accused of sexual assault and land grab.
In the video, lasting over 45 minutes, a man resembling BJP's Sandeshkhali mandal president Gangadhar Kayal told this to the questioner.
It was Kayal who had earlier said in another purported clip, the first in a series in the past week, that the rape allegations were “staged”.
PTI did not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
One of the women, who demonstrated outside the police station, denied the allegation, and said, "Were we protesting in February for money? The TMC are making false claims".
Patra, the BJP candidate for the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, alleged that a saffron party worker in the area was "arrested on a false dacoity charge but many TMC activists, allegedly involved in atrocities on women, are roaming around freely".
Branding the BJP as a "violent" party, TMC spokesperson and state minister Shashi Panja said, "TMC poll campaigners are being attacked by BJP candidate from Basirhat, Rekha Patra, and her followers in Sandeshkhali after the conspiracy hatched by the BJP has come to light."
The incident of attack on the TMC activist and the party MLA took place on the day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to West Bengal and "possibly under his instruction", the state minister alleged.
BJP candidate for Baranagar assembly bypoll and party's spokesperson Sajal Ghosh said the incident reflected the simmering anger of people of Sandeshkhali against TMC.
"The assault on the TMC activist and manhandling of the local MLA is just a pointer. More such incidents may follow if the TMC does not stop bringing disgrace to the mothers and sisters of Sandeshkhali by releasing such fake videos," he said.
TMC's "diabolical gameplan" to deflect attention from the atrocities on women by its leaders in the area will backfire, Ghosh told reporters.
Patra, before being fielded by BJP, was at the forefront of the series of agitation by women in Sandeshkhali in February and March.
