For Gambling, A Bank Officer Embezzles More Than Rs 55 Crores In Delhi

A bank official and a friend are accused of stealing more than 55 million rupees for gambling from multiple accounts, most of which went to virtual betting tables due to their brutal hunger for online gaming. The CBI filed charges against them and alleged that Shekhar Mishra, an accused official of Bedanshu, and Shailesh Kumar Jaiswal, a co-conspirator, committed forgeries at Punjab & Sind Bank, where Mishra worked, to move funds from several bank accounts to various online gambling sites. According to the CBI, it turned out to be a story of greed and fraud.

As of 28 June 2021, Mishra is working at the Punjab & Sind Bank branch at the Khalsa College campus in Delhi. Mishra admitted that he remarked on the banking investigation. According to officials, in his statement during the bank’s investigation, Mishra admitted that he used colleagues’ bank IDs to make unauthorized transfers for online gaming purposes.

A CBI investigation revealed that Mishra “illegally and without any authorization” withdrew 32 fixed deposits of Khalsa College totaling Rs 48.76 crore from the bank and withdrew Rs 6.74 crore from several Mudra Loan accounts, according to officials. The CBI claims that during the investigation, original FDRs were recovered from Jaswinder Singh, principal of Khalsa College, of which 12 were found to be issued in the name of the principal and SGTB of Khalsa College, and the remaining 12 were issued in the name of Khalsa College, student fund and SGTB Khalsa College.

The CBI also found that Mishra transferred money to 29 other bank accounts using legitimate IDs assigned by the Khalsa College branch director. The agency claimed that the lack of supporting vouchers for the said transfer in the bank records “confirms that all the transactions were done dishonestly and with the intention of ignorance”. The bank has detected anomalies, fraud, siphoning, and misuse of cash in many accounts, including RTGS and Inward Parking Accounts, among depository clients, mostly from Khalsa College.

The CBI alleged that “Mishra and an unidentified person” were using the system IDs of other employees without their permission to carry out these unauthorized forgeries and fraudulent transactions. Inquiries revealed that Mishra likes to play online games like CrazyTimes and Monopoly, which are available on the ‘Goa247.Live’ website, which is registered in Curacao in the Caribbean and operated in India by people based in Dubai.

They alleged that Mishra routinely played online games between May 12 and September 14, 2022, and deposited the liquidated amount of the above FDRs totaling 10.81 million in four accounts offered by the gaming website.
According to them, the central investigation agency tracked the website and found that it was run in India by persons Rajat Muralidhar, Nishanth, Rahul Kumar, A Rajath, and Nishanth based in Dubai.

“Rahul Kumar and Rajath, are accused of luring individual clients with current accounts to offer their bank accounts in exchange for a commission. Money could be deposited into these individual bank accounts by users of gambling websites” based on the payment slip provided by the agency.

Huge Companies And Profits 

To say the casino is profitable would be an understatement. After seven years of steady year-over-year growth, commercial casino gaming revenue was around $30 billion in 2020, a nearly 30% drop from 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gambling is still a significant industry.

And the source of those profits isn’t surprising: In a typical year, tens of millions of people travel to Las Vegas, some of whom hope to leave with more money than they entered. According to the American Gaming Association’s State of the States 2021 report, there are more than 450 commercial casinos in the country. In 2018, these casinos gave state and local governments $6.7 billion in gaming taxes. Gambling can be a recreational activity for some people.

It is very important to understand the strategies gambling businesses use to attract and retain consumers to play. One will be able to recognize how they can be manipulated or persuaded into gambling if they are aware of it.

Gambling Games online

Many of the games we play online in mobile apps, websites, and social networks now involve gambling, often without the user realizing it. Slots, roulette, and card games, among other casino-style activities, can now be played through websites and mobile apps. According to behavioral addiction experts, these online betting and gambling games significantly increase the likelihood that a young person will develop a gambling addiction later in life.

Free bets

Another strategy used by the gambling industry is to entice customers with free bets so that they end up using their funds to continue playing. Free bets are used to entice customers by giving them the impression that they are not betting real money.
• A player using a free bet may even win money, which may encourage them to continue playing with real money.
• Eventually, it may be hard to stop, and they will continue to use their own money to gamble.
Free bets are another tactic to encourage you to keep playing.

Sponsorship and advertising

Many young people are first exposed to gambling through television, the internet, and sporting events. These ads portray gambling as fun and casual, which can persuade young people to get involved themselves. Television commercials In a 2016 survey, the UK Gambling Commission found that 51% of respondents remembered seeing a gambling advert on TV. Television commercials portray gambling as a lighthearted and simple method of making money but do not highlight any potential downsides.

It’s important to keep in mind that although these ads make it seem like you could win a lot of money, they fail to emphasize that you can also lose a lot of money.
Internet advertisements Betting and gambling websites use various digital marketing strategies to entice you to visit them again. You are more likely to notice an ad for a gambling website when browsing the internet if you have recently used a gambling app or website. Retargeting is the practice of businesses tracking when you visit their website and using that information to re-advertise. See more details about algorithms and redirects.

This can also happen if you follow specific websites or look at specific topics related to online gambling. These ads may also occasionally contain an offer of free bets or cash, which could tempt you to play again even if you are not in the best possible situation. These ads can make it difficult to avoid gambling because they constantly point to the topic.

Sponsorship

The largest sponsorship market for gambling is sports, where advertisements and logos can be seen on football fields, on jerseys, and before and after sports broadcasts on television.

According to the research, it is “highly likely” that the increase in gambling advertising in sports, particularly football, will lead to the normalization of gambling.
When young people see the name of a betting company on their favorite player’s shirt, it can inspire them to gamble. A young person will be more likely to perceive gambling as normal when watching a sporting event if there is more sponsorship and advertising associated with it.

According to them, an investigation into the scheme revealed that Mishra authorized and opened 48 Mudra loan accounts between June 2021 and November 2022.
Eight of these accounts were controlled by Jaiswal, Misra’s accused accomplice.
The loan money was allegedly used for criminal purposes other than those for which it was approved, with the proceeds going to the gaming website GameKing11 and the remaining funds being used for other illegal purposes.

WhatsApp voice and text conversations revealed that Mishra and accused Jaiswal were in frequent contact. According to what was said in those conversations, Jaiswal asked Mishra to transfer money from the Mudra loan accounts to several current accounts. Mishra, acting on Jaiswal’s instructions and without the consent of the actual account holders, was found to have transacted in the Mudra accounts.
At Jaiswal’s behest, fraudulent transactions totaling 6.74 crores were made in seven bank accounts, showing that Mishra was working under Jaiswal’s supervision. Both were actively involved in a scheme to illegally transfer public funds using fictitious Mudra accounts and identities, they alleged.

Addiction To Online Gaming

Anyone from any background can have a gambling problem. Your gaming will go from a pleasant, risk-free distraction to an obsessive fixation with negative effects. Whether it’s betting on sports, scratch cards, roulette, poker or slot machines in a casino, at a racetrack or online, problem gambling can damage relationships, disrupt jobs and lead to financial ruin.

Impulse control disorder is an addiction to gambling, sometimes referred to as pathological gambling, compulsive gambling or gambling disorder.
A gambling problem can exist without being completely out of control. Problem gambling is defined as any gambling behavior that interferes with everyday life. A person has a gambling problem if they are obsessed with it, spend more and more time and money on it, chase losses, or gamble despite the negative effects on their life.

It is typical for an addiction or gambling problem to coexist with other behavioral or emotional problems. Many problem gamblers also struggle with untreated ADHD, drug or alcohol addiction, stress, anxiety, despair, or bipolar disorder. These, as well as all other underlying reasons, need to be addressed in order to deal with problem gambling.

Edited by Prakriti Arora