THE Enforcement Directorate has chargesheeted EaseMyTrip co-founder Nishant Pitti in the Mahadev online betting app money laundering case, charging him with “facilitating” proceeds of illegal betting into the equity market under the guise of foreign portfolio investments. The federal agency also attached Pitti’s DEMAT shares worth Rs 59.60 crore through a provisional order issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) when filing the chargesheet on September 10 before a special court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

 

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought the court’s nod to “confiscate” these shares, calling them “proceeds of crime” under the anti-money laundering law. A response is awaited from the online travel booking company on the charges levelled in the ED chargesheet. Officials told PTI that the charges against Pitti (40), chairman-cum-managing director at EaseMyTrip, were furnished in the fifth supplementary chargesheet filed before a special PMLA court in Raipur. The ED named 42 individuals and companies in the chargesheet, including EBIX Group Chairman Vikas Garg (53). The agency arrested Garg in July after raiding his Delhi home.

 

He is currently lodged in jail under judicial custody. Soon after his arrest, the Delhi BJP removed Garg as its economic cell convenor and also cancelled his primary party membership. The Mahadev app, also known as the Mahadev Online Book (MOB), is primarily promoted by two Chhattisgarh-based absconding businessmen Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal. It is alleged to have generated proceeds of crime worth Rs 80,000 crore since 2019. The duo has an Interpol Red Notice issued against them. The ED carried out searches against Pitti in April 2025 and questioned him thrice, including twice this August. EaseMyTrip had then denied any direct or indirect association with the Mahadev betting app or any other betting platform. The agency said in the chargesheet that the “evidence” gathered shows Pitti was a “close associate” of Hari Shankar Tibrewal, the Dubai-based owner of the “illegal” betting platform Skyexchange.