Image source, ANI
On Monday, Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court gave two-day transit remand of Saurabh Chandrakar, the alleged kingpin of Mahadev App illegal betting case, to CBI.
According to Bar and Bench, Principal District and Sessions Judge Nikhil Chopra of Rouse Avenue Court gave this order.
Chandrakar was extradited from Oman to India on 1 November. Now he will be taken to Chhattisgarh.
Chandrakar Mahadev, resident of Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, is one of the main accused in the online book illegal betting case.
Investigating agencies allege that Chandrakar and his associate Ravi Uppal created and ran a large online betting syndicate from outside India. For this, he had created “panels” and branches under the franchise network across the country.
It is alleged that betting on sports, card games and other activities was done through this syndicate. The money received from this was sent here and there through mule bank accounts and hawala.
The lawyer called the arrest illegal
After Chandrakar was detected in Oman, he was detained by the Royal Oman Police on the basis of Interpol's Red Corner Notice. After this, Indian agencies made formal proposals to the Oman authorities for his extradition.
CBI completed his extradition process and brought him to India on Sunday, 1 November.
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Advocate Tushar Giri appeared in the court on behalf of Saurabh Chandrakar.
He said, "Saurabh Chandrakar has been extradited from Oman to India. Today he was produced in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court. The CBI wanted him to be taken on two-day transit remand and produced in the concerned court. We opposed this appeal of the CBI."
"Our argument is that he has been extradited only on charges of money laundering and not on the charges mentioned in the CBI charge sheet. Therefore, we say that the way the CBI has arrested him is illegal and a violation of international law."
What is Mahadev App?
Big news from the country and the world that made headlines.
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Saurabh Chandrakar, a resident of Bhilai, along with his partner Ravi Uppal is accused of operating an online betting app named 'Mahadev Gaming-Betting' from Dubai, whose annual turnover was said to be more than Rs 20 thousand crores.
ED has conducted raids in many cities of the country in this case and has recovered property worth several hundred crores. Many people including policemen have been arrested.
Hundreds of people, including people close to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, were interrogated.
Top policemen, bureaucrats, big names in the film industry, politicians, social workers and media persons are under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate.
Bhilai Police had claimed that Saurabh Chandrakar had initially started betting business in the city along with his friend.
But later when he came to know about Reddy Anna of South India, he created his Mahadev Gaming App on the same lines.
Many friends started joining this business. It is alleged that a large number of policemen of the state not only patronized this business but also became a part of this business.
According to ED, in 2019, Saurabh and Ravi started operating their entire business from Dubai. For this, hundreds of people from Chhattisgarh were given jobs in Dubai.
Here, within a few months, more than 12 lakh bookmakers joined 'Mahadev Book', a large part of which was from Chhattisgarh.
Social media played the biggest role in expanding this business. By promoting it on social media, its customers were created in many countries of the world.
A police officer said that during the Corona period in 2020, the business of 'Mahadev App' grew at double the speed during the day and quadruple at night. When IPL cricket started without spectators, betting worth more than two thousand crores was done on Mahadev App.
The earnings from this business were also invested in some films. Apart from this, there was also talk of investing a few crores of rupees in the hotel business.
200 crore wedding
Image source: Getty Images
The ED shared information about cases related to Mahadev App for the first time after arresting the then assistant sub-inspector of Chhattisgarh Police Chandrabhushan Verma, Satish Chandrakar, hawala operators Anil Dammani and Sunil Dammani under the law related to money laundering in August 2023.
After this, in a statement on September 15, 2023, ED had said that it conducted raids in 39 cities including Kolkata, Bhopal, Mumbai and seized cash, property and other evidence worth Rs 417 crore.
The ED had claimed that M/s Mahadev Online Book, owned by Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, was run from a central head office in UAE and operated by franchising 'panels/branches' to its known associates at a profit ratio of 70:30. According to the ED, large-scale hawala operations were conducted to transfer the income from speculation to foreign accounts. Along with this, a large amount of cash was also being spent for advertising betting websites in India.
Saurabh Chandrakar got married in February 2023 in Ras Al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
It is alleged that the promoters of Mahadev App spent approximately Rs 200 crore in cash for this wedding ceremony.
Private jets were hired to take the family members from Nagpur to UAE.
Celebrities were invited to the wedding.
Raipur Police also said that it registered FIR in 36 cases related to Mahadev App.
In these cases, till now more than two people have been arrested from Chhattisgarh, apart from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Apart from this, more than 500 bank accounts have been frozen.
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
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