The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned former cricketer Shikhar Dhawan to join the ongoing probe in an alleged illegal betting app-linked money laundering case. The development comes days after the central agency questioned former cricketer Suresh Raina for around eight hours.
A source said Dhawan has been asked to depose before the agency on Thursday for questioning at its Delhi headquarters in an illegal betting case linked to an app named 1xBet. “Once he deposes, the ED is expected to record his statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA),” the source said.
The ED believes that Dhawan is linked to the app through certain endorsements, and officials are expected to probe his connection to it during questioning.
Last month, the ED had summoned Raina and recorded his statement under provisions of the PMLA. “During questioning, they asked him how he was approached by the owners of a betting app, how money was paid to him, where they paid the tax and about several money transactions,” a source said.
The agency is probing multiple such cases involving illegal betting apps that are alleged to have duped numerous people and investors worth crores of rupees or evaded a huge amount of taxes.
The initial ED probe into the case has revealed that multiple laws have been violated, including the Information Technology Act, the Foreign Exchange Management Act, the PMLA, etc.
