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Mahadev app kingpin held, may be extradited
People aware of the matter said they will also look to extradite Ravi Uppal, who is yet to be officially arrested by the UAE authorities
Indian authorities have moved to extradite Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of the Mahadev Online Book App and the main accused in the ₹6,000 crore illegal betting case, after he was arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week based on an Interpol red notice, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Chhattisgarh Police were processing extradition documents through the ministry of external affairs (MEA) so that Chandrakar could be brought back to India as soon as possible, the people added.
“A court in Raipur issued an extradition order on Thursday. It will be sent to the authorities in the UAE,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
The 27-year-old from Bhilai is accused of running an illegal betting ring, which used the Mahadev app to provide an online platform for illegal betting in different live games such as Teen Patti and poker, opportunities to bet on live cricket, badminton, tennis and other sports, and even bets on Indian election results. He likely moved to Dubai in 2019, and started running his syndicate from there, according to investigators.
Chandrakar and his 51-year-old associate Ravi Uppal are accused of laundering money through a layered web of benami bank accounts in the case, which has brought some of Chhattisgarh’s top bureaucrats and politicians, including former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, under the scanner. Baghel, who was booked in the case early this year, has denied any wrongdoing.
The people cited above said that Chandrakar and Uppal were put under “house detention in Dubai in December last year”. A treaty between India and the UAE came into force in 2000 and provides for extradition of persons accused of offences punishable under the laws of both sides by imprisonment for a period of at least one year.
People aware of the matter said they will also look to extradite Uppal, who is yet to be officially arrested by the UAE authorities.
According to the treaty, an extradition request first has to be initiated in writing and transmitted via the diplomatic channels along with documents related to the case in which the person is an accused, such as a court sentence or arrest warrant. Last month, CBI facilitated the extradition of Deepakkumar Thakkar, accused of running an international criminal gambling network, from the UAE.
ED has said that the operations of the Mahadev app were being run from Dubai by franchising “panels or branches” on a 70:30 profit ratio. The projected proceeds of crime in the case are about ₹6,000 crore, according to ED, which has so far frozen assets worth ₹572.41 crore and arrested 11 people. In August, HT reported that CBI was also brought on board to probe the case.
Chandrakar studied till Class 12 and started to work by the age of 17. He was a betting fiend even when he was young and was pulled into more organised forms of illegal betting, eventually rising to head his own syndicate. Investigators have said that the accused would advertise contact numbers on various websites and lure people in with the promise of profits. Once interested, a unique user would be routed to multiple betting sites, depending on what they wanted to put money on.
ED has filed two charge sheets in the case, including one against Chandrakar and Uppal. It said Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah in February 2023, and about ₹200 crore in cash was spent on the event. Private jets were hired to ferry his relatives from India to the UAE, and celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding, the ED has said. It has also summoned a few celebrities and Bollywood actors for questioning the mode of payment and their links with the online betting platform.
