Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel
The Economic Offence Wing (EOW)/ Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, and others in connection with the Mahadev Online Book App through which an estimated proceeds of crime worth Rs 6,000 crores were generated, as claimed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The said FIR was filed against ex-Congress CM, Bhupesh Baghel along with 18 others on March 4, the other accused named in the FIR include Mahadev app promoters, Saurabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal, Subham Soni, and Anil Agarwal, revealed the agency on Sunday, March 17.
The FIR also includes a few bureaucrats, officers on special duty (OSDs), police officials and other unidentified individuals who have been charged under sections 120B, 420, 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with provisions of the prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2018.
According to the reports, the complaint citing the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s)report stated that Mahadev Online Book App promoters created the platform for live online betting and indulged in betting through different social media platforms.
The promoters of the app allegedly generated crores of money through the app and distributed it among panel and branch operators after keeping a lion’s share somewhere around 70 to 80 percent. The FIR has further claimed that for transaction of the illegally obtained money, bank accounts were opened and operated on the basis of fake documents by the panel and branch operators who further transferred illegal money to the promoters in UAE.
ED’s Investigation into the matter
ED is investigating a case against “Mahadev Online Book,” which is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs, and launder money through a layered web of Benami bank accounts.
The agency initiated an investigation on the basis of First Information Reports (FIRs) registered by Chhattisgarh Police. Subsequently, other FIRs registered by Visakhapatnam Police and other states were also taken on record.
An ED investigation into the matter has revealed that “the main promoters of Mahadev Online Book are also partners and promoters in multiple such online betting books like ‘Reddy Anna’ and ‘Fairplay’.
Large-scale hawala operations are done to syphon off the proceeds of betting proceeds to off-shore accounts,” the agency said. In the course of further investigation, the ED successfully identified other major players involved with the promoters of Mahadev Online Book.
“It was found that one Hari Shankar Tibrewal, who hails from Kolkata but is currently residing in Dubai, is a huge hawala operator and has partnered with the promoters of Mahadev Online Book. ED conducted searches at his known premises and at the premises of his associates. The searches revealed that Hari Shankar Tibrewal owned and operated one of the illegal betting websites, such as SkyExchange.”
He, through his Dubai-based entities, was investing the betting proceeds in the Indian Stock market by way of the Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) route.
He had also employed many of his associates as directors in various companies that were involved in layering of the betting proceeds by investing them in the stock market. He was also involved in large-scale hawala movement of the betting funds,” said the ED.
Accordingly, security holdings worth Rs 580.78 crore in the name of the entities beneficially owned by Hari Shankar Tibrewal have been frozen by ED under PMLA 2002.
Earlier in this case, movable properties totaling Rs 572.41 crore were seized and frozen during searches conducted under the PMLA, 2002. Two provisional attachment orders have been issued, attaching movable and immovable properties valued at Rs 142.86 crore.
Prosecution complaints dated October 20, 2023, and January 1 of this year have been filed in the case. Nine accused have already been apprehended in connection with the case. Thus, total attachment and freezing in the case stand at Rs 1,296.05 crore.
The move comes almost a month after the federal agency arrested two individuals, Nitin Tibrewal from Kolkata and Amit Agrawal from Raipur. Both accused were arrested in the second week of January. Earlier, the ED had arrested alleged accused Asim Das, Bheem Singh Yadav, Chandrabhushan Verma, Anil Kumar Agrawal, Sunil Dammani, and Satish Chandrakar.
The agency stated that the illicit funds generated by the app were used to bribe politicians and bureaucrats. In November last year, the ED also conducted searches against the money laundering networks linked with the alleged Mahadev Book Online Betting App, which led to the recovery of cash worth Rs 5.39 crore and a bank balance of Rs 15.59 crore.
Several celebrities and Bollywood actors have also been summoned by the agency for questioning regarding their connections with the online betting platform and the payment methods involved
Baghel terms move politically motivated
Meanwhile, reacting to the development, former CM and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Rajnandgaon, alleged on Sunday that the FIR against him in the Mahadev online betting case by the state’s EOW was politically motivated and was done to defame him.
“They (ED) can take whatever action they want to…When my name is in the FIR, then the names of the officers should also have been included, but their names have not been mentioned… It clearly means that they are targeting me and trying to defame me,” he said.
The former Chhattisgarh CM further alleged that since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) anticipates massive loss in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, they are adopting new tactics to defame him. “This is the biggest scam of the year, BJP has lost the Lok Sabha elections, and due to this, they are adopting new tactics to defame,” said Baghel.
He further alleged that central agencies were given the task by the Union Government to ensure his arrest, and they have been to all places and have threatened everyone to take my name but they couldn’t implicate him.
“From 2021, I-T, ED, and CBI are on it, they have been to all places and have threatened everyone to take my name but they couldn’t…then Chhattisgarh govt was doing the probe but ED interfered…if I was weak, all agencies wouldn’t have come after me, alleged Baghel further. All the central agencies are doing maximum raids in a small state like Chhattisgarh…I don’t understand why are they scared?” he said while adding that “we will respond accordingly If they will serve notice.”
BJP hits back
Meanwhile refuting the allegation of the Congress leaders, the BJP on Sunday once again trained its guns on the former CM, reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Sehjad Poonawala remarked that ” Apart from the other scams the Congress party has looted the people of Chhattisgarh even on the name of Mahadev, rather than playing the victimhood card they must submit themselves in the investigation.”
“During the entire election campaign, they said there was no truth into the allegation, though the people of Chhattisgarh themselves have mandated that there was lot of corruption in the Bhupesh led government whether it was the Mahadev app scam, liquor scam, Gothaan scam or in job recruitment,” added poonawala.
(With inputs from ANI)
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