A special court of Raipur allowed Economic Offence Wing’s (EOW’s) remand of one of the accused in multi-crore Mahadev Online Book App Scam (Mahadev App Scam), Nitish Deewan on June 12.
Deewan was produced before the special court on production warrant on Wednesday where the EOW demanded remand of him to which the court agreed after hearing both the parties.
Following the arguments, the special court allowed a 12-day remand of Deewan to EOW. Deewan will be produce before the court following completion of his EOW’s remand on June 24.
Deewan, a resident of Bhilai of Durg district is one of the accused of the much debated ‘Mahadev App Scam’ which grabbed the nation’s attention last year following a lavish wedding of one of the mastermind of the betting app through which thousands of crores of proceed of crime generated according to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Deewan was apprehended by the ED on February 16 this year for his alleged association with Saurabh Chandrakar, one of the key accused and mastermind behind the alleged scam.
According to the reports, Deewan was a part of the panel operating 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 app promoters during his stay in Dubai.
EOW/ACB probe into the matter
Notably, EOW began a probe into the matter after registering a fresh FIR (First Information Report) based on ED’s finding in March this year. The anti-corruption bureau in the FIR filed had named former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel along key accused, Saurabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal, Subham Soni, Anil Agarwal and others.
The agency after commencing a probe into the case has carried out search operations on multiple locations along nabbing one of the absconding accused Arjun Yadav, a dismissed personnel of the state police who was apprehended by the sleuths of agency from Panchmadhi on May 9.
Earlier the EOW’s sleuths had also apprehended two accused identified as Rahul Wakte, who was linked to ASI Chandrabhushan Verma, another accused in the multi crore scam arrested by the ED and Ritesh Yadav, a panel operator who is said to be working with both Chandrabhushan Verma and Satish Chandrakar, a co-accused in the case.
Investigation by Enforcement Directorate
The ED began its probe into the matter 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 last 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.
According to the ED’s findings, 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 6000 crore) by the app promoters.
The investigation has revealed that Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, who hail from Bhilai in Chattisgarh, are the two main promoters of the Mahadev betting platform. The probe by the central agency has further uncovered alleged Hawala transactions in UAE and Pakistan.
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 investigation had further disclosed 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 had further 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 on off-shore accounts, additionally, illicit funds generated by the app were also used to bribe politicians and bureaucrats. The agency had further disclosed that it had also successfully identified other major players involved with the promoters of Mahadev Online Book.
Investigation by police of multiple states
It is noteworthy that other than ED and EOW, the state police of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh are also investigating cases linked to the multi-crore scam.
More recently the Raipur police have arrested scores of bookies from separate locations across many states who were indulged in running the panel of the Mahadev App.
Meanwhile, Special Task Force (STF) of the UP police had also nabbed two accused linked with the promoters of the Mahadev App from Lucknow on April 25. One of the accused nabbed by the police is linked to one Abhishek Singh, a closed aide of the Mahadev App promoters, Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar and Subham Soni.
Furthermore, the Maharashtra Cyber Cell is also investigating a case linked to illegal streaming of IPL matches on Fairplay app, a subsidiary application of the Mahadev App. The Cyber unit had also summoned bollywood actress, Tamanna Bhatia and Sanjay Dutt for enquiry in connection with the investigation.
Significantly a number of others bollywood personalities are also reported to be on radar of the agencies for their alleged association with Mahadev app and its subsidiary applications, this include actor and fitness influencer Sahil Khan who was nabbed by the Maharashtra police following a marathon chase on April 27.
