ED claims Baghel received ₹508 cr from Mahadev betting app entrepreneurs, but CM rejects the allegation

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed on Friday that money worth ₹5.39 crore that they had taken on Thursday from a hotel in Raipur was being delivered for the Congress party’s election expenses. They claimed that an email statement from a suspect in the alleged Mahadev betting app scam had revealed that the operation’s promoters had paid bribes to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel worth ₹508 crore.

However, the ED said in a news release that “these (claims) are subject matter of investigation.” Important state assembly elections are scheduled to begin on November 7 with ballots for 20 seats, then for the remaining seats on November 17. But the Congress called it a “malicious” effort to damage Baghel’s reputation.

Since July 2022, the ED has been looking into the Mahadev Book Online Betting App syndicate on PMLA accusations. They claim that the app’s promoters, Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, are located abroad and operate illicit betting businesses from a distance with earnings from crimes totaling several thousand billions. The ED has apprehended four persons and confiscated around ₹450 crore in the last three to four months.

Asim Das and Bhim Singh Yadav were two additional individuals taken into custody by the ED on Friday, and they were brought before a special Raipur court. Another suspect, Shubham Soni, a “prominent member” of the financial operations of the purported fraud, was requested to appear before the agency on October 26 but instead delivered his contributions via email, according to their remand notice. “He has indicated in his email submission that kickback monies were, in fact, routinely sent to political officials on behalf of Mahadev Book in order to facilitate the seamless running of betting activities in the state of Chhattisgarh. He has identified ‘Verma Ji’ as one of the recipients of bribes and profit-sharing payments, according to the ED. The two guys were placed under seven days of ED detention by the judge.

As per the remand note seen by HT, a review of the email sent by Soni on November 2nd also turned up more “startling allegations.” Specifically, it states that Bhupesh Baghel, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, has received frequent bribe payments from Mahadev App promoters in the past, with a total of around ₹508 crore spent so far.

CM Baghel responded to the news by saying, “As I have stated previously, the BJP wants to contest the Chhattisgarh elections with the assistance of agencies like the ED, IT, and CBI.” A very nefarious attempt has been undertaken by the ED to damage my reputation shortly before the elections. The fact that the ED has said in a summary that the aforementioned remark is being looked at is what makes it harmful. But why produce a press release so quickly based on the testimony of a single person if the inquiry hasn’t happened? This demonstrates the bad intentions of the federal government and the ED.The people of Chhattisgarh will not tolerate PM Modi and Amit Shah’s attempt to run for office via the ED, notwithstanding my outspoken criticism of their political witch hunt.

According to ED authorities, Chandrakar and Uppal are now residents of the United Arab Emirates. A charge sheet was submitted against the pair in October, valuing the fraud at about ₹5,000 crore. The agency conducted a search operation on Thursday, including at the home of Soni’s accomplice Asim Das, after receiving information that Soni was in the process of giving money to certain lawmakers in preparation for the next elections.

In a statement released on Friday, the ED said that it had “conducted searches at Hotel Triton and another location in Bhilai and successfully intercepted Asim Das who was specifically sent from the UAE to deliver large amount of cash for electioneering expenses of the ruling Congress party.” According to the CBI, during the searches, it found ₹5.39 crore in undeclared cash at Das’s house and automobile.

According to the official statement, Das acknowledged that the money that had been taken into custody had been planned by the Mahadev app’s developers and was intended to be sent to a politician by the name of “Baghel” for “upcoming election expenses.” Bhim Singh Yadav, the second guy detained on Friday, was a Chhattisgarh police policeman who served as a go-between for obtaining money from individuals operating the scheme and transferring it to “Chhattisgarh politicians.” The investigation found that Yadav had made three unauthorized trips to Dubai in the previous three years (in 2020, 2021, and 2022); he had met Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, and he had attended the Mahadev App gala functions. M/s Rapid Travels of Ahuja Brothers, Mahadev App’s money laundering and ticketing company, covered his travel expenses. In its statement, the ED said that “he served as a conduit for the receipt of bribe money from Mahadev App promoters for the benefit of senior officers and politicians in Chhattisgarh.”

After months of research, BJP officials said that their claims, which they had been making for many months, were finally being supported. Now that everything is evident. Chief Whip of the Chhattisgarh BJP, Ajay Chandrakar, a former minister, said that Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel “has to resign on moral grounds.”