Economic Offence Wing (EOW) has nabbed one more accused in connection with the infamous Mahadev Online Book Betting scam or Mahadev app scam in which crime of proceed worth Rs 6000 crore were generated illegally as estimated by Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The accused Kishanlal Verma, has been closely associated with suspended ASI and accused in the case, Chandrabhushan Verma and another accused Rahul Wakte who were nabbed earlier by the agencies investigating the multi-crore scam.
The nabbed accused Verma who owns a firm namely MK Enterprises was reported to be involved in investing large sum of money received from Hawala and other sources linked to promoters of the Mahadev app.
As per the details, Verma has confessed about investing money amounting to over Rs 58 crore through various firms by producing bogus bills and fraudulent bank entries to convert the black money of the app promoters.
Verma’s arrest comes on the heels of EOW nabbing another accused constable Sahdeo Yadav in the case. Yadav, a personnel of the Chhattisgarh police is closely associated with the Dubai based promoters of the app and was on the run. He was nabbed from Somani area of Rajnandgaon.
Sahdeo Yadav is brother of co-accused Bhim Singh Yadav and Arjun Yadav both dismissed personnel of Chhattisgarh police. Earlier the EOW had arrested constable Arjun Yadav from Panchmadhi on May 9.
Both Kishan Lal Verma and Sahdeo have been produced before a special court in Raipur from where they have been sent to judicial custody till July 19.
Court extends judicial custody of other accused
It is to be noted that a special court of Raipur on Saturday, July 6 extended the judicial custody of a number of accused in the multi-crore alleged scam till August 24.
The court extended the remand of accused Chandrabhushan Verma, Nitish Deewan, Satish Chandrakar, Suraj Chowkhani, Girish Talreja, Bhim Singh Yadav, Asim Das and others in connection with an ongoing investigation being conducted in the case.
EOW/ACB and ED 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 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.
Read more at: Mahadev App Scam: Court grants 12-days EOW’s remand of key accused, Nitish Deewan
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 Chhattisgarh, 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.
It is worth mentioning here that other than the ED and EOW, the state police of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh are also investigating separate cases linked to the multi-crore scam which have led to nabbing of a number of panel operators and other accused associated with the main promoters of the app. Further a number of Bollywood celebrities’ associations with the app promoters are also under the scrutiny of the investigative agencies and the police.
