Five Arrested for Working for a Chinese Gambling Company

Hyderabad police investigating claims of money laundering against various Chinese nationals and their Indian associates by the Income Tax department took action yesterday with the arrest of five individuals.

They were held for organising online gambling via difference companies under the umbrella of a Chinese firm called Beijing T Power Company.

Police (stock image) revealed a Chinese national and the alleged company head of operations for South East Asia, Yah Hao, plus three directors, Dheeraj Sarkar, Ankit Kapoor, and Neeraj Tuli, were arrested.

A complaint had been filed by two persons who lost Rs 1.64 lakhs and Rs 97,000 after playing online games.

"The domain name servers of the gaming websites are based out of China and the data hosting services are cloud-based in the USA but operated out of China. The entire technical operation is run by China-based directors/partners of these companies. The payments were being routed through India-based payment service providers/gateways", said Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar in a press conference.

Growing Infortech Pvt Ltd, Sily Consulting Services Pvt Ltd, Pan Yun Technology Services, Linkyun Technology Pvt Ltd, Dokypay Technology Pvt Ltd, and Daisylink Pvt Ltd are just some of the companies operating under Beijing T Power Company and organising online betting.

According to police, new players required a reference from existing members to join the illicit club. Total inward transactions on just two accounts uncovered by police were worth Rs. 1,100 Crores. Officials were only able to freeze Rs. 30 Crores.

It's not the first time Chinese operators have been linked to illegal gambling in India. In July, three men were arrested in Mumbai for playing poker on a Chinese app.

The news comes at a sensitive time with relations between China and India at the lowest for some time. Having already banned many China-based apps, including TikTok, the Indian government has made it clear it could ban hundreds more Chinese apps over privacy and security fears.