Ex-CM of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel and others are detained in connection with the Mahadev betting app

Based on an investigation report provided by the ED, the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) in Chhattisgarh has filed a case against former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and others in the suspected Mahadev online betting scam, authorities said on Sunday.

Additionally, a number of unnamed private individuals, police officers, special duty officers, and bureaucrats have been charged.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been looking into the money laundering case connected to the Mahadev app for more than a year, has previously claimed that its investigation has revealed the involvement of several high-ranking officials and politicians from Chhattisgarh, the state from which the two major app promoters are originally.

The ED estimates that around Rs 6,000 crore was made from this crime.

A senior source said, “The FIR was registered against Baghel and others at the EOW police station here on March 4 based on its report submitted to the state’s EOW/Anti-Corruption Bureau. The ED has been investigating the case.”

He stated that the FIR had listed Baghel, a prominent Congress politician, as an accused along with app entrepreneurs Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar, Shubham Soni, and Anil Kumar Agrawal, as well as fourteen other people.

According to him, additional unnamed private individuals, police officers, bureaucrats, and officers on special duty (OSDs) had also been implicated in the case but had not been given names.

According to the official, the complaint was filed under many IPC sections, such as 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), and 471 (using a counterfeit document as authentic), as well as the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

The Mahadev Book App promoters Uppal, Chandrakar, Soni, and Agrawal allegedly built the platform for live online betting and bet over WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, and other social media platforms, according to the FIR, which cited the ED’s report.

The promoters established several platforms and used panel operators and branch operators to carry out illicit online betting activities. According to the allegations, they divided the remaining funds among panel operators and branch operators while keeping 70–80% of the illicit profits for themselves.

The FIR said that when the lockdown was implemented in 2020 (during the Covid-19 epidemic), the entrepreneurs and panel operators made around Rs 450 crore per month using the online betting app.

In this instance, the ED has detained nine people so far. To far, the ED has filed two chargesheets in a Raipur court, one of which includes allegations against Uppal and Chandrakar. It has already carried out many raids in relation to the matter.