The mastermind Promoter of Mahadev betting app Saurabh Chandrakar has been arrested in Dubai following an Interpol Red Corner notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate.
New Delhi: Sourabh Chandrakar, the mastermind behind the Mahadev betting app scam, has been arrested in Dubai following an Interpol Red Corner notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate. The ED may send a formal extradition request soon. The investigating agency was reportedly informed about the arrest on Thursday in a money laundering and fraud case.
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Friday 11 Oct. 2024
Chandrakar along with another promoter of the app, Ravi Uppal was detained in that country late last year following the ED’s request for issuance of a Red Notice (RN) against them.
Reports said Chandrakar is expected to be either extradited or deported to India over the next few days after he was formally placed under arrest in Dubai. Red corner notices were issued against Chandrakar in October 2023 after the ED had moved a special court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, filed a chargesheet and obtained a non-bailable warrant against him.
The Mahadev online betting scam, a complex web of illicit operations involving individuals from Bhilai, the steel city, and orchestrated from the UAE and various states in India, was uncovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) following a series of raids in Chhattisgarh in 2023.
The scandal, which unfolded during the previous Congress regime in Chhattisgarh, has since become one of the most significant controversies in the state.
According to ED findings, the Mahadev online betting app was an unauthorized platform that facilitated illegal betting on various sports, including cricket and football, as well as other forms of gambling. Operating across India and internationally, the app attracted a large number of users with the promise of easy money.
However, beneath the surface, it was allegedly involved in laundering vast sums of money, funnelling illegal earnings through a complex network of offshore accounts and shell companies.
The ED’s crackdown involved a series of high-profile raids across multiple locations, targeting individuals who wielded significant power during the Congress regime. These raids resulted in the seizure of incriminating evidence, including digital devices, financial records, and documents that revealed the extent of the app’s illicit activities.
The ED suspects that the betting app laundered over Rs 5,000 crore — a staggering amount that has raised concerns about the reach of such illegal operations within the Indian financial system.
The ED has alleged that its probe in the Mahadev Online Book (MOB) gaming and betting app has shown involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, the state where Chandrakar and Uppal hail from.
MOB app, as per the federal agency, is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs and laundering of money through a layered web of benami bank accounts.
The ED has arrested a total of 11 people in this case till now. Two charge sheets have also been filed by the agency till now, including against the two promoters. The ED has alleged in its charge sheet that Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in February 2023 and about Rs 200 crore “in cash” was spent for this event.
Private jets were hired to ferry Chandrakar’s relatives from India to the UAE and celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding, the agency alleged. It had claimed that the alleged illegal funds generated by the app were shared as bribes to politicians and bureaucrats in the state even as it has summoned many celebrities and Bollywood actors for questioning on the mode of payment and their links with the online betting platform.
