Mumbai: In a strategic collaboration with the Mumbai Crime Branch, the Chhattisgarh Police have launched an intense manhunt for Dinesh Kumar Vyas, infamously known as Dinesh Bhai, an alleged big time hawala operator reportedly linked to the Mahadev online betting app. A nationwide lookout notice for Vyas was issued on Wednesday.
Vyas's latest known whereabouts were at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, where he was spotted attempting to board a flight to Nagpur around 4:30 PM on Wednesday. However, in a dramatic turn of events, Vyas managed to escape, while another associate, Bheekhan Vyas, was detained by Mumbai Police during the boarding process.
During questioning, Bheekhan Vyas revealed that Dinesh Vyas had instructed him to meet at the security gate during check-in, but Dinesh never appeared. Bheekhan Vyas claimed he was unaware that Dinesh Vyas was wanted by the police and was an absconding suspect. According to Bheekhan Vyas, they had arrived at Mumbai Airport from Gujarat on Wednesday afternoon and were scheduled to depart for Nagpur on an Indigo flight at 4:30 PM.
The Mumbai Crime Branch has served a notice under Section 41 of the CRPC, compelling Bheekhan Vyas to appear for further investigation by the Durg police.
A senior officer from Mumbai Police, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed these details and said that Chhattisgarh Police had contacted them for assistance, sharing the case details and information about the absconding Ahmedabad-based hawala operator, Vyas. Currently, a Crime branch team is involved in the search for the absconding accused in Mumbai.
The hunt for Vyas began after Durg Police raided his Raipur premises on Tuesday night, seizing Rs 80 lakh in cash, two mobile phones, a note-counting machine, and eight bundles of currency notes in denominations of Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, and Rs 20. These denominations were used as codes to illegally transfer money under a token system. Three individuals linked to Vyas’s hawala operations were also arrested.
Law enforcement sources reveal that Vyas allegedly played a pivotal role in managing the financial operations of the Mahadev betting app and its subsidiary platforms. His responsibilities included overseeing the collection of betting revenues at the Raipur office and orchestrating the illegal transfer of these funds abroad via sophisticated hawala channels.
According to reliable sources, Vyas has emerged as a key associate of the Mahadev betting app promoter. Originally from Durg, Chhattisgarh, Vyas relocated his operations to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, approximately a year and a half ago in response to the intensified Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigations in Chhattisgarh.
From Ahmedabad, he managed sophisticated hawala operations to funnel illicit funds from Mahadev Betting and other betting apps abroad.Vyas’s name surfaced during the interrogation of Vinay Kumar Yadav, alias ‘Super Star,’ an associate responsible for managing panel operations and betting funds. Yadav was apprehended on June 28 while accepting bets on the World Cup final via the Mahadev subsidiary app, Satta App. Yadav told the police that he had transferred through hawala the money collected via betting to those who had provided him a panel of the online betting app.
In his confession, Yadav revealed the details of the sophisticated betting network he was involved in. He explained that he managed multiple betting panels on the Satta App and the Lotus 365 betting app, collecting profit amounts after final settlements. Yadav received a token number from a senior network member via a WhatsApp group for conveying the funds, retaining a 5 percent commission for himself. He would then visit Vyas’s office at Shankar Nagar, Bhilai, where the token number was verified and the cash was handed over. Vyas allegedly routed these funds through a hawala network to facilitate illegal transfers abroad.
Based on Yadav’s details, Chhattisgarh Police raided a location in Hyderabad on July 1 and busted panel number 444 of the Lotus 365 betting app. They arrested eight individuals and seized laptops, dozens of mobile phones, betting account books, dummy bank account details, ATMs, and several log books related to panel operations.
All the arrested individuals were from Chhattisgarh and were operating the panel from a rented house in Hyderabad set up specifically for the IPL and World Cup. According to sources, a significant amount of money, estimated to be in the crores, was earned through betting during this period and was later funneled abroad by Dinesh Vyas.
Search for Dinesh Vyas continues, authorities are intensifying their efforts to track down the elusive suspect and dismantle the broader hawala and betting network linked to the Mahadev app.
