The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Saurabh Chandrakar, the main accused and promoter in the multi-crore Mahadev online betting app cheating case, under the anti-money laundering law in Raipur, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Chandrakar, 31, was remanded in ED custody until November 19 by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court presided over by judge Amit Rathore, officials told PTI.A special CBI court in Raipur had sent Chandrakar to judicial custody until November 19 on November 12 after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation.Chandrakar was brought to Delhi from Oman on November 1 after a court there approved his extradition to India on October 8. The ED and the CBI are investigating the money laundering, corruption and cheating case.
Online betting and money gaming, also known as “satta”, are banned in India.“In ED custody, Saurabh Chandrakar will be confronted with the statements of his associates, digital data and documents concerning his foreign entities and evidence of commission of offence of money laundering,” the ED said in a statement cited by PTI. The agency repeated its earlier allegation that Chandrakar's wedding in Ras Al Khaimah in February 2023 cost about Rs 200 crore in cash.
Three chartered aircraft were allegedly used to fly guests from Nagpur.“ED traced that money through the event company, hotels and angadia firms, and the guest list it recovered identified the management of the syndicate,” the agency said.According to the ED, the Mahadev app, also called Mahadev Online Book, began operating in 2019-20. Its user base grew sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and continued to expand.The app operates through thousands of panels and has allegedly generated proceeds of crime worth Rs 80,000 crore since 2019, the ED said.The agency said the Omani court rejected Chandrakar's citizenship claim after the Indian embassy confirmed that he was an Indian national.
Records also showed that he was detained in Oman while trying to leave through Muscat International Airport using a forged travel document.The ED has described Chandrakar as the “principal promoter, collector and beneficiary” of the Mahadev betting app and named him as accused number one in a chargesheet filed in October 2023. It has alleged that the app's operators, including co-promoter Ravi Uppal, had links with senior politicians and bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh.Officials told PTI that Chandrakar worked at a juice shop run by his family's company in Bhilai in Chhattisgarh's Durg district until December 2020.
Over the next two years, he began running a betting business from Dubai with thousands of employees, they said.The ED has arrested 15 people, attached assets worth Rs 1,885 crore, named 116 accused in six chargesheets and searched 190 premises across the country. The money laundering case, registered in October 2022, is based on FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Chhattisgarh Police and the CBI.Chandrakar, whom the ED has identified as the main promoter and beneficiary of the Mahadev betting app, will remain in the agency's custody until November 19 as it examines statements, digital records, documents and other evidence linked to the case.- Ends