Red corner notice sought against MOB promoters, says ED chargesheet

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought Interpol's help in issuing a red corner notice against the promoters of Mahadev Open Book (MOB) platform, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, for allegedly running illegal online betting operations. The ED has accused Chandrakar and Uppal, who are based in Dubai, of evading investigation and failing to appear before the agency for questioning. The MOB platform is suspected of frequently operating in several countries, including Sri Lanka, Australia, London, and Caribbean countries.

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached Interpol to issue a red corner notice (RCN) against Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, the Dubai-based promoters of Mahadev Open Book (MOB) platform, to ensure their detention and bring them to India to face the law for allegedly running illegal online betting operations.

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Chandrakar and Uppal are among the 14 persons other than a firm named as accused in the agency’s first chargesheet which was submitted before a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Friday.

ED’s request for RCN is based on the open-ended non-bailable warrants issued against the duo by the court on September 4 after they failed to appear before the agency for questioning despite being issued two summonses. The request has been routed via Interpol’s nodal agency in India, the Central Bureau of investigation, agency sources said.

“Chandrakar and Uppal did not honour the summons issued on September 1 and September 2 under section 50 of PMLA, and were deliberately evading the investigation,” an ED source said. “Accordingly, an application was filed by the agency before the special court requesting for open-ended non-bailable warrants against the two.”

ED had on August 21 conducted searches at the known residential premises of Chandrakar and Uppal in Bhilai in Chhattisgarh.

According to the chargesheet, Chandrakar and Uppal are the main promoters and beneficial owners of the Mahadev apps-platform. Initially, they had moved to Dubai but now they are suspected of frequently being on the move, from Sri Lanka, Australia, London to Caribbean countries, it said.

HT had in September reported how during one such trip, Chandrakar and Uppal were not allowed to enter Australia and were sent back to Dubai owing to their names featuring in criminal inquiries against MOB by ED and several state agencies in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

Mahadev’s main call centre employing around 1,000 WhatsApp users is allegedly being run from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and most of the MOB’s employees are from Bhilai, the document said. Thye are colloquially referred to as ‘checkers’ since their main responsibility is to monitor the accounts of the betting panels and identify defaulting panels during their 12-hour shifts. The promoters have housed the employees at leased/rented villas in Dubai where groceries and other necessities are regularly delivered.

MOB is run on a franchise-based model and a multi-level marketing pyramidal model in which branches or panels are outsourced in a 70%-30% profit-sharing ratio. “The panel operators manage the clients and are responsible for the receipts and payments and managing the coins of the assigned user IDs. They transfer Mahadev’s head office’s share via hawala channels,” the agency source said.

The chargesheet said the duo sold panels like a small franchise but they kept nearly 70-80% of the profits of the panel operators. As per the alleged admission by some panel operators before ED, a panel is given to an applicant only after the latter makes an earnest deposit of ₹15 lakh, it said.

MOB began its operation in 2019-20 but its reach expanded during Covid-19 in 2020 and continued to grow since then, the agency said in its chargesheet. The online platform has several agents or franchise owners across the country, including Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra.

ED’s chargesheet also includes as accused the four persons it had arrested in Chhattisgarh in August. The four are assistant sub-inspector Chandrabhushan Verma, panel operator Satish Chandrakar, hawala operators Anil Dammani and Sunil Dammani.

“Searches were conducted on August 21 on the premises of Verma, Chandrakar, and the Dammanis along with those of Chandrakar and Uppal. Their statements revealed how funds through hawala were being sent regularly by the MOB owners to be delivered to some politicians and bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh as ‘liasioning money’ to prevent action against the bigger players of the platform,” the ED source said. “Verma had named senior officials working in the office of Chhattisgarh’s chief minister and gave a break-up of the payments made to many senior police officers.”

ED initiated its investigation based on the cases registered by the police in Chhattisgarh, Visakhapatnam and other states.

The agency has kept under its scanner dozens of celebrities, including those from Bollywood, for their alleged receipt of payments from MOB, either for endorsement on social media or attendance and performance at the latter’s Dubai-based events, including the September 2022 ‘success’ party and this February wedding of Chandrakar. The agency has summoned several of them to record their witness testimonies to verify if such payments were part of the proceeds of crime.

The chargesheet said comedian Kapil Sharma, who had allegedly performed at MOB events, was asked by ED on August 28 to furnish details about his hiring and the payments he received thereof. He responded to the agency via a letter dated September 2. His event management firm was allegedly approached by a person to perform at a MOB event and later a firm had made the payment towards his fees, the chargesheet added.