The Economic Offence Wing and Anti-Corruption Bureau (EOW/ACB) has intensified its investigation into the Mahadev Online Book Betting App (Mahadev app) case. The officials of the agency on Thursday, May 9 launched a major exercise on Thursday, May 9, in which raids were conducted at a total of 29 locations across separate districts of the State.
As per the details, a total of 18 premises were raided by the EOW/ACB officials in Durg district, while other teams of the agency raided as many as 7 locations in the state’s capital, Raipur.
The EOW and ACB team raided premises linked to a number of jewellers in Durg district including the Sankhala and Saheli Jewelers where the team reached early morning to enquire about the case. The officials also raided the house of the owners of these shops.
Another team of officials of the agency conducted a raid at the premises linked to one of the accused, ASI Chandrabhushan Verma’s Raipur based home, while a separate team also raided house of Dilip Chandrakar, uncle of one of the founder of the online betting platform, Saurav Chandrakar in Durg.
A separate team of the EOW/ACB also reached the house of head constable Vijay Pandey in Charama of Kanker, though the premises was found to be locked following which the team sealed the house. Pandey has been reported to be on the run.
Further the officials of the agency also raided premises linked to business Anil Agarwal in Dharmajaigarh of Raigarh alongside raiding the ancestral home of ASI Verma in Baloda Baazar.
The raids have been conducted days after the ACB/ EOW grilled a few accused in connection with the case. It’s been further reported that the sleuths of the agency have also recovered electronic equipment, documents linked to assets, banks, slips linked to Hawala alongside suspected documents during the raids.
Absconding constable Arjun Yadav nabbed
Further the sleuths of the agency have also arrested constable Arjun Yadav, an absconding suspect in the case on May 9. Yadav was detained from Panchmadhi following which he was taken to the agency office where he was arrested after the initial interrogation.
Notably, as many as three accused Satish Chandrakar, Sunil Dammani and Chandrabhushan Verma, were also produced before the court on Thursday, where they have been sent to judicial custody. Meanwhile, another accused in the case, Amit Agarwal, was also produced before the court on Thursday where the court has extended his police remand till May 14.
More recent development in the case
It is noteworthy that earlier, the EOW/ACB had also nabbed as many as two accused in the case from Goa and Delhi, respectively. One of the accused, identified as Rahul Wakte, was nabbed from Delhi, Wakte was allegedly involved in delivering money to ASI Chandrabhushan Verma who was earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Rs 6000 crore alleged scam.
The other accused, Ritesh Yadav, was allegedly working as a panel operator of the Mahadev Online Book betting app. Yadav was reportedly involved with Verma and another accused, Satish Chandrakar.
In another recent development pertaining to the case, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police had also nabbed as many as two close aides of the promoters of Mahadev app from UP’s capital Lucknow on Thursday, April 25.
Those who have been nabbed by the police are residents of Deoria and Sharvasti districts of UP and one of them is a relative of Abhishek Singh, a close aide of Mahadev app promoters, Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar and Saurabh Soni.
FIR registered by EOW/ACB
It is worth mentioning here that the agency launched its investigation into the case after filing a First Information Report (FIR) against the former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, and others in connection with the Mahadev app through which an estimated proceeds of crime worth Rs 6,000 crores were generated, as claimed by the ED.
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.
The case was registered on the basis of the ED’s report which states that the Mahadev app promoters created the platform for live online betting and indulged in betting through different social media platforms.
