MOB now an umbrella syndicate with two subsidiaries

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched a money laundering probe against Mahadev Open Book (MOB), an online betting platform that has grown into an international syndicate with subsidiaries and franchises in India and abroad. MOB's monthly earnings are estimated at around ₹450 crore ($60 million) and it has a staff of 3,500. The ED has arrested eight individuals and seized properties worth ₹572.41 crore ($76 million) in connection with the case. MOB's alleged criminality lies in its role in illegal betting and money laundering activities.

MUMBAI: When Saurabh Chandrakar, a former juice shop owner from Chhattisgarh’s Bhilai, hired a young job aspirant, also from Bhilai, in September 2020, his firm Mahadev Open Book (MOB) was a fledgling entity that offered online betting services to subscribers. The recruit was tasked with promoting the company’s now defunct Telegram channel, increasing its subscriber base and creating promotional posters, all for a monthly salary of ₹10,000.

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By October 2022, when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a money laundering against MOB, the company had grown substantially. The recruit, who is now a case witness in the ED probe, held joint charge of running six of its franchises. Over the next year and a half, the ED expanded the probe from Chhattisgarh to multiple states, arrested eight persons and seized properties worth ₹572.41 crore. It also filed two chargesheets in a Raipur special court against the case accused persons/ entities, including MOB’s alleged co-promoters, Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal. Chandrakar and Uppal are currently under round-the-clock surveillance and detention, respectively, in Dubai and are likely to be extradited to India in the coming weeks.

Despite the probe and arrests, however, MOB’s operations kept growing. It expanded to an international umbrella syndicate with two subsidiary betting platforms – Reddy Anna and Fairplay, over betting 60 sites/ apps and over 1,200 franchises in India and abroad. Its 3,500-strong staff, mostly from Chhattisgarh, are housed in 20-odd villas in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), and its monthly earnings are estimated at around ₹450 crore, said sources in the ED.

Illegal betting, money laundering

At its core, MOB is a platform that hosts around 60 betting websites/apps built around games like poker, cricket, badminton, football, and card games. While users need to sign up to access and place bets on these websites/apps, MOB allegedly has a call centre with 1,000-odd staff in Dubai to assist them with this process.

Gambling or betting is a state subject in India, and various states have laws that prohibit the activity. But these laws do not apply to games like poker, cricket, badminton, etc that involve skills. In the famous Gaussian network case from 2012, however, a Delhi court ruled that when skill-based games are played for money online, it ought to be deemed illegal.

Part of the ED’s case against MOB rests on this very contention – that its primary objective is money-making. “It is nothing but a conglomeration of illegal betting websites which are hosted from abroad. Mahadev Online Book advertises about these betting websites through closed WhatsApp groups, and Facebook pages and attracts thousands of youths to earn quick buck via betting and entertainment, “ says the chargesheet submitted by ED.

“Mahadev Open Book provides online platforms for illegal betting in different live games, provides facility for playing a number of card games and even allows apps to place bets on different elections in India,” the chargesheet further notes.

The ED contends that MOB’s criminality largely stems from its role in alleged money laundering. According to sources in the agency, benami bank accounts are used to receive and pay money to players; transactions are not accounted or brought into the tax net; and hawala channels are used to move funds across international borders.

The promoters of MOB invest their earnings in real estate in India and the UAE, as well as crypto currency and stocks, said agency sources.

Nabbing the perpetrators

The ED probe stems from a First Information Report lodged in Chhattisgarh’s Durg in March 2022, and the case chargesheet prepared by the police. On October 6, 2022, the agency filed an Enforcement Case Information Report based on these documents, formally launching the money laundering investigation. Later, five more police cases, four from Chhattisgarh and one from Andhra Pradesh, were brought under the purview of the probe.

The agency made the first arrests in August 2023, when four accused were nabbed in Chhattisgarh. An assistant sub-inspector of police who was among those arrested told investigators that Uppal and Chandrakar had sent him funds worth ₹65 crore over the preceding few years towards bribes to him and other government officials as well as politicians and their aides. The bribes were paid to protect the company and its operatives from police action, said agency sources.

On November 3, the ED arrested two more accused from Chhattisgarh. They included alleged courier Asim Das, who was intercepted by the agency’s Chhattisgarh team at a hotel in Raipur; ₹5.39 lakh was recovered from his vehicle and Bhilai residence. Das claimed that he was tasked with delivering cash to a political party in Chhattisgarh towards expenses for the November 2023 assembly election.

The ED has so far has made eight arrests in the case and seized movable properties worth ₹572.41 crore following searches at the premises of accused persons. The agency has also issued two provisional orders, attaching movable and immovable properties worth another ₹142.86 crore. More recently, it provisionally attached assets worth over ₹99 crore in the UAE, including a flat and a plot.

The first chargesheet in the case was filed on October 20, 2023, and the second on January 1, 2024. A total of 19 persons/entities have been named as accused in the case by the ED. They include Chandrakar and Uppal, who are currently under 24/7 surveillance and custody of authorities in Dubai, awaiting extradition to India.

Betting ring thrives

Despite the money-laundering probe against MOB and its associates spanning several states and even abroad, the entity has grown substantially. MOB’s reach among users grew exponentially during the pandemic, following which it floated two subsidiary online betting platforms – Reddy Anna and Fairplay, the ED found in its probe.

According to the ED, both Reddy Anna and Fairplay submit their weekly financial accounts to MOB’s accounts group at its Dubai-based head office every Monday. MOB also has an estimated 2,000- 3,200 branches/franchises in India and abroad, of which around 1,207 are in operation currently, said ED sources.

These franchises/ branches also submit weekly accounts to the Dubai office. Each is run by a panel of operators, and Chandrakar and Uppal keep nearly 70-75% of their profit, the chargesheet submitted by the ED says.

MOB has allegedly incorporated multiple shell firms in Dubai to facilitate visa services for its staff, Chandrakar’s close aide Nitish Diwan, a case witness, told the ED. Diwan worked out of MOB‘s Dubai-based head office from 2020 to 2023. In October 2021, he was sent to Zimbabwe to inspect a problem afflicting the local team there, he told investigators, indicating MOB’s operations were spread across more countries.