Hours after news reports said that Dabur Group chairman Mohit V. Burman and director Gaurav V. Burman were named in connection with the Mahadev betting app case, the Burman family denied any communication from the police.

On Tuesday, news agency ANI reported that the Mumbai police registered a case against 32 people under sections of the Indian Penal Code related to fraud and gambling. “Police have included names of actor Sahil Khan and Dabur company's Gaurav Burman and Mohit Burman and others in the FIR registered under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120 (B) of IPC,” ANI’s tweet on X read.

But a Burman family spokesperson told BQ Prime that “we have not received any formal communication on any such FIR. However, we have sighted the FIR which is being circulated to media houses” and that “the FIR is patently false and baseless. Nothing could be further from the truth than as wrongly stated in the FIR”.

The FIR was reportedly filed last week by a social worker who alleged that the betting app had led to people fraudulently losing over Rs 15,000 crore.

According to the Burmans, the FIR is an “arm-twisting” tactic to block its acquisition of financial services company Religare Enterprises. Dabur’s promoters had sought a probe into the sale of Religare shares by its chairperson, Rashmi Saluja. According to the family, Saluja sold her shares immediately after the Burman family disclosed their plans to make an open offer.

“Curiously, the FIR comes at a time when the Burman Family has sought to increase its existing shareholding of 21.24% in Religare Enterprises and launched a legitimate open offer under the SEBI Takeover Code,” the family said in a statement, as reported by Mint.“The Burman Family remains shocked at these ‘arm twisting’ moves, which are grossly illegal.”

The Mahadev betting scam: The Mahadev Online Book ran betting platforms, which started in 2017 but gained prominence during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The Mahadev Online Book nudged people through social media endorsements and websites to place illegal bets on chance-based games and made money by dubiously rigging the game. It was also allegedly used to launder money.

According to an Indian Express report, potential users would be given WhatsApp contact numbers to deposit money for bets and encash the game points. These bank accounts for deposits and encashment were fraudulently opened, benami accounts and the games were skewed in a manner that they offered initial profits to players but ultimately led to massive losses.

The betting platform is now at the centre of several investigations. Last month, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned several Bollywood celebrities for promoting the illegal app. The investigating agency believed that celebrities endorsing and doing promotional work for these entities were paid through dubious transactions, which ultimately came from the proceeds of online betting.

The ED has also made several arrests and is on the lookout for the main promoters—Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal—who have reportedly amassed around Rs 6,000 crore from this operation. It is largely believed that Chandrakar’s lavish wedding, where over Rs 200 crore was reportedly spent, was what prompted an immediate ED probe. Among those arrested by the ED, one claimed that money was also used by promoters to pay Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel ahead of the state assembly elections.