Representative Image (Photo Credit: India Today NE)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at over a dozen premises across separate cities in connection with Mahadev book online betting platform (Mahadev betting app) on Tuesday, February 27. The raids were conducted in Mumbai, Delhi NCR region, and a few places in West Bengal as part of the ED’s money laundering investigation into the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to the details received, as many as 15 premises across the abovementioned places were raided by the sleuths of the agencies, who have so far arrested as many as nine people in connection with the scam worth crores as revealed during the investigation of the economic intelligence agency.
The raids were conducted amidst the ED on Monday, February 26 produced Nitish Deewan, one of the key accused in the case, was produced at a special court in Chhattisgarh’s capital, Raipur, from where he was sent to 3 days of judicial custody. Deewan, a resident of Bhilai, was arrested by the ED in the middle of this month for his alleged association with Saurabh Chandrakar, one of the founders of the online betting platform.
According to the information received, Deewan was a part of the panel operator team of the betting platform and was primarily tasked with converting the money into crypto currencies. He was also accused of investing the money on behalf of the promoters of the app during his stay at Dubai.
Earlier, the special court had issued notices to as many as 13 accused in the case to appear before the court on Monday. The notices were issued to key accused in the case, Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal along with the other promoters of the app Dheeraj Ahuja, Yashoda Verma, Anil Agarwal, Subham Soni, Vishal Ahuja and others. Though, it has been learned that none of the accused appeared in court on Monday, the court has issued fresh notices to the accused to appear before the court on April 6.
The Mahadev Book Online Betting Platform
The Mahadev betting app used an online book betting application to enrol new users, create user IDs, and launder money through a string of Benami bank accounts, the application reportedly generated an amount close to Rs 200 crores daily, leading to speculation of accumulation of thousands of crores (around Rs 5000 crore) by the app promoters.
As per the ED’s investigation so far, Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, who hail from Bhilai in Chattisgarh, are the two main promoters of the Mahadev betting platform. The investigation in the case has reportedly also uncovered alleged Hawala transactions in UAE and Pakistan. According to the ED the key accused, Ravi and Chandrakar were running their operations from Dubai and had created an empire for themselves.
Investigation by Enforcement Directorate
The ED began its probe after one of the promoters of the app, Saurabh Chandrakar, arranged a lavish wedding in UAE where private jets were used by the accused to ferry the family members from Nagpur in February this year. The accused allegedly spent around 250 crores in the wedding ceremony, where a number of Bollywood stars also performed. Later on, it was revealed that the whole amount spent on the wedding was paid entirely in cash.
ED arrested ASI Chnadrabhushan Verma of Chhattisgarh police along with Hawala operators Satish Chandrakar, Anil and Sunil Dammani under the PMLA act in August 2023. The agency also conducted raids at 39 locations across Raipur, Bhopal, Mumbai and Kolkata and seized illegal assets worth Rs 417 crore in September last year.
In between, the agency had also summoned a number of Bollywood actors, including Ranvir and Shraddha Kapoor, to inquire about the details of the payment made to them by the promoters. Based on the investigation, a PMLA special court at Raipur had issued non-bailable warrants against the suspects, leading to the red-corner notice issued against the key accused in October.
According to the reports, the ED during the course of the investigation, has so far seized Rs 572.41 crore during multiple raids conducted by the agency across separate states. Meanwhile, the economic intelligence agency has also attached properties worth 142 crores in connection with the case. The ED has also filed as many as two chargesheets into the case, including a supplementary chargesheet, which was filed before the court in January this year.
It is to be noted that earlier, Ravi Uppal, one of the prime accused of the Mahadev betting app scam, was detained by authorities in Dubai, Uppal was detained by the Dubai police in December last year, and the sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are in reported to be in touch with the UAE authorities for his extradition. A couple of weeks after Uppal’s arrest it was reported that the other prime accused, Saurabh Chandrakar, was also put under movement restriction by the authorities in UAE.
The arrest of Uppal occurred a month after the ED nabbed an alleged cash courier, Asim Das and constable Bheem Singh from Raipur on November 3 last year. The official of the agencies during the arrest reportedly also seized Rs 5 crore from the possession of the accused. Later on, ED claimed that Asim, during the course of interrogation, confessed that he was sent by the promoters of the Mahadev app to deliver cash to a politician named ‘baghel’ for upcoming election expenses in the state of Chhattisgarh.
The central agency, after the arrest of Asim, had also frozen around Rs 15 crore from some unnamed accounts linked to the banned app promoters. Days after his alleged confession, the accused, Asim Das, claimed in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PLMA) court that he had been framed as part of conspiracy and he never delivered cash to the politician. Shockingly, a month after his arrest, Asim’s father, Sushil Das, was found in a well in Durg district on December 7 last year.
Video released by Shubham Soni
Earlier in a video release, a person named Subham Soni claimed that he is the real owner of the Mahadev book online betting platform, and Ravi Uppal and Saurabh Chandrakar are his personal advisors. In the video released, which was later also shared by the state BJP unit of Chhattisgarh Subham can be heared saying that he paid a hefty sum of amount (Rs 508crore) to the then Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel who had earlier advised him to operate his business from Dubai.
Soni had further claimed that despite paying such a huge amount, he had been implicated in this political game, and all he wants is to go back to India. “I have all the details and evidence with me about the money I gave. I want to go back to India, and I would like to ask the Indian government to help me out, I am really scared of going there,” claimed Soni.
Based on the allegations, the ED named the former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, in a supplementary chargesheet filed before the court on January 1, 2024. The chargesheet filed by the ED was related to allegations of receiving bribes amounting to approximately Rs 508 crore from the promoters of the Mahadev App. The chargesheet includes names of several other accused individuals, including Subham Soni, Anil Kumar Agrawal, alias Atul Agrawal, Rohit Gulati, Bhim Singh Yadav, and Asim Das.
According to ED, Asim Das, in his statement, disclosed that Subham Soni, a prominent figure in Mahadev Online Book, instructed him to deliver a substantial amount of cash to Bhupesh Baghel. The chargesheet points out that Das was called to Dubai by Soni on October 25, 2023, and was provided with cash to be delivered to Baghel. A voice message recovered from Das’s phone further strengthens the claims, where Soni instructs him to deliver 8-10 crore rupees to Baghel upon returning to India.
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