UP STF arrests Mahadeva app India head and accomplice from Lucknow

LUCKNOW: A team of the UP Special Task Force nabbed the India Head of the infamous Mahadeva gaming app scam and his associate from Vibhuti Khand in Lucknow on Thursday. The scam had caused a political storm in the country, and teams were after those involved in the scam.

Those arrested were identified as Abhay Singh and Sanjeev Singh, both from Deoria district.

The team recovered 276 pre-activated SIM cards from different companies, four mobile phones, two PAN cards, two Aadhaar Cards, a gold bracelet, a gold chain, and other documents besides a luxurious car from the accused. They were arrested near a private hospital opposite the Summit Building in the area.

The miscreants owned up to their crime and disclosed that they had earned through duping billions of money by getting 32 corporate SIMs ported in the name of different fake companies and had sent 4000 SIM cards to their men in Dubai for operating the scam, the STF said.

Additional SP, STF, Vishal Vikram Singh, said that the STF was informed by their network of informers that the platform offered card games like "Teen Patti", poker, "Dragon Tiger", and virtual cricket games, among others. The platform has also been accused of match-fixing, money laundering through cryptocurrency, and rigging games to ensure profits for panel owners and heavy losses for players, so they were working on it.

“In his confession, Abhay said his cousin Abhishek, who lived in Dubai, asked him to purchase new SIM cards in the name of poor and illiterate persons, promising him a salary of Rs 25,000 per month and Rs 500 per SIM. He said he started purchasing the SIM cards in the name of poor people in his district and then got them ported to another company,” said ASP Singh.

He said he was provided the UPC code by one Chetan Joshi of Chhattisgarh, who also worked with Abhishek in Dubai. He said he started sending 30-35 SIMs to Dubai per month to Shubham Soni aka Pintu of Chhattisgarh, who also worked with Abhishek.

In 2023, Abhay’s salary was increased to Rs 75,000 per month, and he was given the task of corporate SIM porting, which is a prepaid SIM with its KYC done in the name of a fake company and its address. Chetan also sent some of the prepaid SIMs to Abhay during this time. Abhay got Rs 2000 as commission per SIM for activation, and he worked under Shubham’s supervision. He sent 150-200 activated SIMs to Dubai. He said he used to procure 5-6 SIMs in the name of a person, and the SIMs he sent to Dubai were used in opening WhatsApp and Telegram accounts, said the STF.

He disclosed that he procured the SIM cards from Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Jaipur, Pune, Mumbai, and Odisha as of now. He said the SIM cards were used in making WhatsApp and Telegram accounts, and then a group was formed, and the work of the group was to trap the innocents.

He confessed that after the ED action against the Mahadeva app, the gang was running Reddy Anna Book, Fairplay, Lotus 365, and several other gaming apps. “He confessed that 80 per cent of the money obtained through defrauding was given to Saurabh Chandrakar and Shubham Soni aka Pintu, who were promoters of Mahadeva Book App. The police said different agencies are conducting a probe of the scam, and 10,000-12,000 men from India have been working in Dubai at present. His aide also confessed to his crime,” the STF said.