Mumbai: The sessions court has granted bail to actor Sahil Khan, who had been booked and arrested for his association with the online betting application Lion Book, allegedly linked to Mahadev online betting application.
The actor was arrested on April 29 after his plea for anticipatory bail was rejected by the Bombay High Court. Earlier, Khan’s anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the sessions judge, Dr Abhay A Joglekar, who had noted prima facie evidence to show his link with Lion Book. The prosecution had claimed that Lion Book is connected to Mahadev and 66 other such applications.
According to the prosecution, these applications operate through over 2,000 fictitious SIM cards and over 17,000 bogus bank accounts, indicating the huge volume of alleged fraud. As per the investigating agency, the syndicate is said to have not paid taxes to the tune of Rs15,000 crore out of the total profits earned by these apps. Besides, online betting was allegedly promoted through more than 1,000 channels on Telegram.
The agency had claimed that Lion Book is similar to Mahadev Book app, with the tagline ‘One life, one chance’. It is claimed that the application is a subsidiary of Mahadev, which is promoted by Dubai-based hotelier and businessman, Hitesh Khushalani, in partnership with Sahil Khan.
