ED attaches Rs 11.14 cr assets of cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 11.14 crore belonging to former cricketers Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan in connection with its probe into the illegal offshore gaming application 1xBet. The attachments were made under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

According to the agency, the attachment includes mutual fund investments worth Rs 6.64 crore held in Raina's name and an immovable property valued at Rs 4.5 crore belonging to Dhawan. Both players have the option to contest the provisional attachment order before the adjudicating authority. They were not immediately available for comment.

The ED alleged that Raina and Dhawan "knowingly entered into endorsement agreements" with foreign entities linked to 1xBet, promoting the platform through its surrogates in return for payments routed via overseas intermediaries. The agency claimed these transactions were structured to conceal the illicit origin of the funds, which it believes are linked to proceeds of crime generated from illegal betting activities.

The investigation stems from multiple first information reports filed by various state police units against operators of 1xBet and its surrogate brands 1xBat and 1xBat Sporting Lines. The ED said these entities were running unauthorised online betting operations targeting Indian users through social media, online videos and print advertisements.

Payments for celebrity endorsements were allegedly made via layered transactions through foreign intermediaries to disguise the source of funds.