As per the ED, a website was engaged in unauthorised online betting in various sports including tennis, cricket, soccer, basketball, badminton and boxing, and live-streamed Indian Premier League matches without any permission.
Two persons, held in an alleged money laundering case against a website, which illegally streams IPL cricket matches besides allowing betting, were remaded to the Enforcement Directorate's custody till February 15, a court in Mumbai ruled on Thursday.
Chirag Shah and Chintan Shah, who allegedly looked after technological and software-related aspects of `Fairplay', a website, were arrested by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The central agency produced the duo before special PMLA judge A C Daga, and sought their custody.
Defence lawyers opposed the plea, pointing out that the First Information Report registered by the cyber police, the `predicate' offence on which the ED case was based, was quashed by the Bombay High Court on Wednesday.
But as the order was yet to be uploaded on the HC website, the PMLA court remanded the two accused in ED custody till February 15.
A further order will be passed on Saturday, the court said.
As per the Supreme Court's guidelines, a PMLA case cannot stand in the absence of a predicate offence.
As per the ED, www.fairplay.in was engaged in unauthorised online betting in various sports including tennis, cricket, soccer, basketball, badminton and boxing, and live-streamed Indian Premier League matches without any permission.
It also facilitated betting on the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the agency claimed.
Fairplay has no legal presence in India, with no registered entity, GST registration or PAN to conduct such business activities, it said.
The ED case stemmed from an FIR of the Mumbai Police's cyber cell, registered on the complaint of Viacom18 Media Pvt Limited for allegedly causing revenue loss of more than Rs 100 crore through unauthorised broadcast of IPL.
Krish Laxmichand Shah, the key person behind Fairplay, had registered various companies including Play Ventures N.V and Dutch Antilles Management N.V at Curacao, Fair Play Sport LLC and Fairplay Management DMCC at Dubai, among others, the agencies claimed.
Chirag Shah and Chintan Shah were involved in facilitating and executing a sophisticated money laundering scheme, the ED alleged.
They actively participated in the diversion of proceeds of the crime amounting to more than Rs 100 crore, it claimed.
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