The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Saurabh Chandrakar, the alleged kingpin of the Rs 6,000-crore Mahadev online betting app scam, in Raipur.
Chandrakar was arrested at 3.10 pm under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He was produced before a special PMLA court, which sent him to ED custody till November 19 for questioning.
Chandrakar, 31, was already in judicial custody. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested him on November 12 in a related case, and a special CBI court had sent him to judicial custody till November 19.
The ED moved the PMLA court for a production warrant, which was allowed on Thursday. The agency then formally arrested him on Friday and secured seven days of custodial remand.
Chandrakar was brought back to India from Oman on November 1 after a court in Muscat ordered his extradition on October 8. He had been detained at Muscat airport while trying to leave on a forged travel document.
01. What is the Mahadev app case?
Mahadev Online Book was one of India’s largest illegal online betting syndicates, run from Dubai through a network of betting panels across India and the UAE. Chandrakar ran it with co-promoter Ravi Uppal.
The ED has estimated the proceeds of crime in the case at around Rs 6,000 crore. Its complaint, filed in October 2023, estimated the syndicate earned about Rs 450 crore a month.
The agency said it has searched around 190 premises in the case, seized or frozen assets worth about Rs 2,000 crore, and attached properties valued at about Rs 3,500 crore, including 22 properties in Dubai. Chandrakar is the 15th person arrested by the ED in the case.
The case also names former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as an accused. In ED custody, Chandrakar will be questioned on the statements of his associates, digital data and documents linked to his foreign entities, the agency said.
