MUMBAI, Dec. 20 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches in 27 locations across the country, including the office of online fantasy gaming platform Dream11 and premises linked to its co-founders Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, as part of a money laundering investigation. The probe is related to alleged fraudulent diversion of funds from a Rs.2,434-crore private real-estate fund by several accused persons and entities including private firm Jai Corp Limited, its then promoter, businessman Anand Jain, and other directors and promoters of sister firms. The ED's probe is based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 18 this year, based on orders passed by the Bombay High Court. As per the FIR, the irregularities occurred during 2004 to 2017. ED suspects that some public-sector entities too suffered after making investments in the real-estate fund, officials said. Dream11, whose co-founders include Jain's son Harsh, and Bhavit Sheth, is a former jersey sponsor of the Indian cricket team. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ended its association with Dream11 in August after a new law banned real money gaming. Apart from 23 locations in Mumbai, ED's searches covered two locations in Bangalore (Karnataka), and a location each in Nashik in Maharashtra and Raipur, Chattisgarh. The CBI's case was based on the January 31 order of the high court and is based on allegations of a complainant who had earlier approached Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing in 2021 and 2023 with his complaint. Based on the court's order, the CBI had in February also constituted a Special Investigation Team, headed by IPS officer Sarah Sharma, to probe the case's allegations. When contacted by HT about ED's searches, Dream11's spokesperson declined to comment. Anand Jain also declined to comment. HT could not reach Harsh Jain....