Mahadev App promoter Chandrakar arrested; likely to be extradited from UAE
The CBI took over all Chhattisgarh Police’s first information reports (FIR) in the case including the one which names former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel
Indian authorities were processing the extradition of Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the promoters of the Mahadev Online Book App and main accused in the alleged ₹6,000 crore betting scam, after he was arrested last week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) based on an Interpol red notice, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The people added federal agencies Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Chhattisgarh Police probing the alleged scam were processing extradition documents through the external affairs ministry so that Chandrakar could be brought back to India as soon as possible.
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A court in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur issued an extradition order on Thursday. It was being sent to the UAE authorities, said an official, who asked not to be named.
The people cited above said Chandrakar and his business partner Ravi Uppal were put under “house detention” in Dubai in December last year.
The ED has cited its probe into the alleged scam and said the operations of Mahadev Online Book App were being run from Dubai and that it operated by franchising “panels or branches” on a 70%-30% profit ratio.
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HT in August reported that the CBI has also been roped in to probe the alleged scam. The CBI took over all Chhattisgarh Police’s first information reports (FIR) including the one which names former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.
ED alleged in November that Chandrakar and Uppal paid bribes of ₹508 crore to the Baghel. “The promoters of the Mahadev Book App paid huge amounts of protection money to various police officers, administrative officers, and influential political persons to stop police from taking any action on their illegal activities. This money was used to reach the police and administrative officers through hawala operators, and then further to other senior police officers and influential political persons. This way, several police and administrative officers misused their official position to benefit themselves in the form of protection money and create illegal assets,” said the FIR naming Baghel.
Baghel has dismissed the charges maintaining his image was being image tarnished as part of a political witch-hunt.
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ED has filed two charge sheets in the case, including one against Chandrakar and Uppal. It alleged Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in February 2023 and about ₹200 crore in cash was spent for this 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 said.
ED said the projected proceeds of crime in the case are about ₹6,000 crore. It has so far frozen assets worth ₹572.41 crore in the case.