A few weeks ago, Khajur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao was abuzz with talk of one of its residents, YouTuber and social media influencer Anurag Dwivedi (26), hosting a lavish wedding in Dubai. He had reportedly flown several of his family members to the UAE city.
Last week, the village found itself in the limelight once again — an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team landed at Anurag’s doorstep to search the residence in connection with an alleged illegal betting and gambling case.
Seized documents also revealed that Anurag had allegedly invested in real estate in Dubai through hawala channels, said the agency. In addition, movable assets worth around Rs 3 crore, including insurance policies, fixed deposit balances and amounts in bank accounts, have been frozen under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, it said.
The ED said he is in Dubai and has not responded to its summonses.
At Khajur, residents claimed they had long sensed something was amiss.
The village, which falls under the Bhitrepar gram panchayat, has a small population of about 20 houses. Most of its male residents do odd jobs abroad.
Deepak Tiwari, a resident claimed, “I came to know that around 30 members of his [Anurag’s] family and close associates had gone to Dubai to attend his wedding last month. Since I was not invited, I don’t know how expensive it was, but people are talking about the money spent on it.”
“When the ED team arrived, it felt as if the agency had more personnel than our entire village,” he added.
Another local resident, Anil Kumar, said Anurag lived in the village until 2019-20. “Even after moving out, he remained in constant touch with people in the village. But we never knew what exactly he was doing or how he earned so much money.”
While villagers were aware he was involved in some kind of cricket-related activity on social media, they claimed they never saw him playing the sport or interacting with children who played cricket in the village. “We suspect the ED action came after news of his Dubai wedding… He was often seen in the village driving around in expensive, luxury cars,” alleged a villager.
Anurag has 2.4 million followers on Instagram. In the description of his YouTube channel, which has 7.11 million subscribers, Anurag called himself a fantasy cricket expert. It also said “he started with just Rs 300 and is now the biggest fantasy cricket player and fantasy cricket expert in India”. His recent videos were on the India-South Africa T20 series, predicting how it would play out.
Anurag’s father, Laxminath Dwivedi, a former gram pradhan, runs a medical store in Nawabganj, about 2 km from the village. He did not respond to calls despite repeated attempts to contact him for comment. Village pradhan Manoj Kumar said Anurag’s father is financially stable and comes from a humble background.
“Because of Anurag, the lives of several young boys have been spoiled. Influenced by his lavish lifestyle and expensive cars, they dropped out of school and began following in his footsteps. Anurag himself studied only up to Class IX. Those boys did not succeed and are now doing odd jobs in factories,” Tiwari alleged.
What is the ED case
As per its statement, the ED said it initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the West Bengal Police against certain individuals for operating illegal online betting activities. Its probe revealed that two accused, Sonu Kumar Thakur and Vishal Bhardwaj, were allegedly running an online betting panel from Siliguri using mule bank accounts, Telegram channels and other digital platforms.
The ED claimed its investigation also found that Anurag played an active and significant role in promoting illegal online betting platforms.
It alleged he was receiving proceeds of crime (POC) from illegal betting apps through various hawala channels and mule accounts. He also allegedly created and circulated promotional videos for these illegal betting apps, thereby influencing the general public to place bets on such platforms, it alleged.
“Large sums were received in the bank accounts of his companies and in the accounts of his family members without corresponding legitimate commercial justification,” the ED claimed.
The ED’s investigation, as per the statement, further revealed that Anurag allegedly used the proceeds of crime generated through the promotion of and facilitation for illegal betting websites to acquire immovable properties outside India, particularly in Dubai.
“It was found that after generating such proceeds, Anurag left India and is currently living in Dubai. Several summons have been issued to him so far; however, he has failed to appear before the ED,” it said.
The ED said it had arrested three persons in the case and filed a prosecution complaint before the Special Court (PMLA), Kolkata, on August 1. Further investigation is under progress, it added.
The ED, in a statement, said during the searches, four high-end cars including a Lamborghini Urus, a Mercedes, a Ford Endeavour and a Thar were seized. (Image source: Instagram/anuragxcricket) 
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