Dabur, Burman Family Call Mumbai Police FIR False In Betting App Case

The Dabur group and the Burman family have denied any connection to an alleged betting app scandal. This comes after the Mumbai Police Mumbai Police registered a case against 32 people including Director of Dabur, Gaurav Burman and company chairman Mohit Burman alleging a connection to the betting app scam.

A spokesperson of Burman family, said that no formal communication was received by them on the FIR filed by the Mumbai Police and reported in the Media.

"We have not received any formal communication on any such FIR. However, we have sighted the FIR which is being circulated to media houses. The FIR is patently false and baseless. Nothing could be further from the truth than as wrongly stated in the FIR. From a copy of the FIR that is being circulated in the media, we note that allegations are being made that Mr. Mohit Burman and Mr. Gaurav Burman are directly related to some of the accused. There is an "unseen - Exhibit F" which seems to lay out some so-called relationships" the Spokesperson for the family said.

The family also say they have never met any of the accused that have been named in the said FIR by the Mumbai Police.

"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. As part of this the Burman Family brought to the notice of the Board and the regulators certain governance issues being perpetrated by Dr. Rashmi Saluja, the current Chairman. This FIR is nothing but a step provoked by vested interests in an attempt to block the acquisition of Religare Enterprises Limited by Burman Family" the spokesperson said on behalf of the Burman family.

The spokesperson also alleged that this seemed to be a move to arm-twist the family.

"The Burman Family remains shocked at these "arm twisting" moves, which are grossly illegal. Nevertheless, we remain resolute that we will proceed with our acquisition of Religare Enterprises as contemplated" said the spokesperson.

Earlier the Mumbai police filed an FIR against 32 accused under various sections of fraud and gambling. According to the FIR, Mohit Burman has been listed at 16 number while Gaurav Burman is at number 18 as alleged accused.

The FIR was registered on November 7, based on a complaint filed by social activist Prakash Bankar. This case has been registered for running a betting app named Khiladi.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is also investigating the alleged Mahadev Book Online Betting APP syndicate in which the promoters of this betting syndicate are allegedly sitting abroad and remotely running thousands of panels across India with the help of their friends and associates.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)