A major crackdown on online gambling promotions led to the arrest of nine Instagram influencers, including Deep Goswami (23) and Dharmik Vaghani, for allegedly promoting illegal gambling platforms via social media. The city’s Cybercrime Branch confirmed the arrest of seven more individuals who were using their large online following to encourage betting.
The newly arrested influencers include:
Nilesh Chavda (29) – 8.95 lakh followers, earned approx. Rs11 lakh
Bhavesh Rathod (25) – 8.6 lakh followers, linked to sky365.com
Laxman Janjvadiya
Sagar Chhaya
Vanrajsinh Zala
Ilesh Derwadiya (21) – 1.2 lakh followers, promoted 1win.com
Vijay Majethiya (32) – 5.16 lakh followers, earned Rs1.35 lakh
The influencers promoted betting platforms like rajagames.in, rajagames.world, 1win.com, and sky365.com, earning commissions ranging from Rs30,000 to over Rs11 lakh through reels and user sign-ups.
According to DCP (Crime) Dr. Parthrajsinh Gohil, banks have been approached for transaction histories to trace money trails. “Once details are obtained, we will initiate proceedings to freeze these earnings,” he added.
Influencers earned up to Rs7,000 per promotional reel and received higher commissions when users registered and played using links shared via their Instagram bios. Some of the pages amassed followers in lakhs, giving the campaigns significant visibility.
Authorities are continuing the investigation to identify additional collaborators and financial channels.
