The Delhi High Court (HC) has ruled that assets linked to the ₹2,400 crore international cricket-betting scam can be seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), treating them as “proceeds of crime.”
A bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar rejected petitions that challenged earlier provisional attachment orders. The Court observed that while cricket betting itself isn’t a scheduled offence under PMLA, the profits—and the properties acquired from them—qualify as criminal proceeds if rooted in earlier crimes like forgery, cheating, or criminal conspiracy.
In this case, the ED had linked the racket to a UK-based betting platform, alleging that the network used “Super Master” login IDs—obtained through fraudulent means—to place bets across India and abroad. Investigators claimed the scheme generated ₹2,400 crore between December 2014 and March 2015.
By confirming that even downstream profits and derived assets are tainted if they stem from illicit origins, the Delhi HC has reinforced the wide ambit of PMLA. The verdict sends a strong message that money laundering laws will apply not only to direct proceeds from scheduled crimes but also to wealth generated through subsequent illegal activities built on that taint
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