India Links 200+ iPaisa Merchants to Illegal Betting Payments

The findings followed October 13 searches at 20 premises across Mumbai, Pune, Mehsana, Surat and Hyderabad. The inquiry extends to the companies and bank accounts allegedly used to collect and move customer deposits.

Over 200 Merchants Registered Through iPaisa

According to the ED’s October 17 statement, money deposited by users of the two platforms eventually reached accounts belonging to a Pune-based business established by Ram U. Ramdhani. His company, Edsom Fintech, developed iPaisa and allegedly registered over 200 shell and front entities as merchants for betting and cyber-fraud operators.

The network also involved intermediaries known as channel partners and carry-and-forward agents. Investigators traced funds through mule bank accounts, with certain cooperative banks allegedly providing infrastructure for further transfers.

Edsom’s own iPaisa app listing on Google Play describes a service for bill payments, mobile recharges and transaction tracking. Betting is not among the advertised features. The ED’s findings concern the alleged use of merchant accounts within that payment infrastructure.

Three Methods Used to Move Funds

The agency identified three suspected routes for moving the proceeds:

1. Trade remittances backed by inflated invoices;
2. Cash withdrawals from mule accounts disguised as Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) units;
3. Cryptocurrency transfers to move funds outside India.

The ED has not released transaction-level records showing the route of individual payments. Investigators also reported that several people operating the betting platforms were receiving instructions from Dubai.

The merchant network is relevant to a wider issue in Indian payment enforcement. As 15M previously reported, tax intelligence officials have proposed recording the originating website in betting-related payment transactions. That proposal belongs to a separate investigation.

October Raids Add to Earlier Case Against Edsom

Ramdhani was already in judicial custody when the October searches took place. ED officers had previously searched properties in Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru as part of the same investigation.

This time, investigators seized documents, electronic devices and other material, while several bank accounts were frozen. The ED gave no figure for the frozen funds or the total amount handled by the suspected merchant network.