EaseMyTrip CEO Nishant Pitti being probed in Mahadev betting app scam: Report
The chief executive officer of travel firm EaseMyTrip, Nishant Pitti, has come under scrutiny in the investigation into the Mahadev Betting App scam by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), reported the Economic Times.
According to the probe agency, Pitti may have been in cahoots with a group of operators who allegedly manipulated stock prices of 25 publicly traded companies using the money from the illegal betting business, the report said, adding that this may have been done with help and knowledge of the promoters of these companies.
According to the documents submitted by the Enforcement Directorate to the Adjudicating Authority, the official body that oversees money laundering cases, Nishant Pitti faces four major allegations-
When reached out by the Economic Times to respond to the allegations, Nishant Pitti denied all of them.
'I don't know this person, and we haven't made any payments to these companies since 2017. I've never even heard of these names before,' the report quoted him as saying.
On the ₹7 lakh recovered by the ED from his home, Pitti said, 'There are eight earning members in my family. We've filed income tax returns of over ₹1,000 crore, and our declared cash holdings are more than ₹70 lakh. The ₹7 lakh that was found is part of that declared amount.'
Pitti is now a respondent in the case before the Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Under the act, the ED is permitted to hold on to any assets seized during probes.
According to the ED's report, the data recovered from the laptop belonging to Prashant Bagri, who is linked to the scam, shows Pitti listed as an agent for Sky Exchange. The data also shows that Pitti's firm EaseMyTrip sent money to two reportedly shell companies in 2021 - Nischay Trading Pvt Ltd and Silvertoss Shoppers Pvt Ltd.
Bagri also reportedly told investigators that he was in regular touch with Pitti about his firm's Benpos. ED's investigation also points out that the people involved in the betting scam approached promoters of 25 listed companies and used illegal proceedings worth ₹350 crore to influence stock prices, the report said.
These are just the allegations by the probe agency and it is to be noted that they require validation through judicial proceedings.
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