Mahadev app owner Sourabh Chandrakar detained in Dubai; ED may file fresh charge sheet

Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of the Mahadev online betting app, has been put under "house detention" in Dubai while Indian probe agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED), have been "alerted" and are working through diplomatic channels to get him deported, official sources said on Wednesday.

The ED may also file a fresh charge sheet in this multi-crore money laundering case soon, they said.

The development comes weeks after Ravi Uppal, another promoter of the betting and gaming app, was detained by local authorities in Dubai on a red corner notice issued by Interpol at the behest of the ED. The sources said Chandrakar's location in Dubai has been intimated to the federal agency and he has been put under "house detention".

Indian agencies are working, through diplomatic channels, to secure the deportation or extradition of the two, who are vital to the money laundering case and the police investigation into alleged illegal activities of the 'Mahadev Book Online' app, which also has political links in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere, the sources said.

The ED is also expected to file a fresh (supplementary) charge sheet in this case against two people arrested by it in November from Chhattisgarh — alleged cash courier Asim Das and police constable Bheem Yadav.

The agency, in its first charge sheet filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Raipur, had named Chandrakar and Uppal along with some others.

In this charge sheet, it had quoted Dilip Chandrakar, the uncle of Sourabh Chandrakar, as saying that before Sourabh went to Dubai in 2019, he ran a juice shop along with his brother in Bhilai.

The ED claimed Sourabh Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in February 2023 and about Rs 200 crore "in cash" was spent on this event, for which private jets were hired to ferry guests from India to the UAE and celebrities were paid to perform.

Uppal, 43, was detained last week in Dubai. Both businessmen are being probed by the ED in the money laundering case linked to alleged illegal betting through online apps, apart from investigations by the Chhattisgarh and Mumbai Police crime branches.

A red corner notice was issued against the two by Interpol on the basis of the ED's request, based on a court-issued non-bailable warrant.

The projected proceeds of crime in this case are about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED.

The agency had claimed in November, just before the first phase of assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, that forensic analysis and statements made by Asim Das had led to "startling allegations" that Mahadev betting app promoters had paid about Rs 508 crore to former Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, adding that these allegations were the "subject matter of investigation".

Das had later submitted before a special court in Raipur that he had been framed as part of a conspiracy, and he had never delivered cash to politicians.

The ED investigation has shown that the Mahadev Online Book App is run from a central head office in the UAE, officials said. It operates by franchising "panels/branches" to their known associates on a 70-30 per cent profit ratio, the officials said.

Large-scale hawala (informal remittance) operations are conducted to siphon off the betting  proceeds to off-shore accounts, they said. Large expenditures in cash are also being recorded in India to advertise betting websites to attract new users and franchise (panel) seekers, the ED had said.

The company promoters hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, and the Mahadev online book betting application is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms to enable illegal betting websites, it is alleged.