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 & Bench, Principal District and Sessions Judge Nikhil Chopra of Rouse Avenue Court gave this order.
Chandrakar was extradited from Oman to India on November 1. 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 organized through this syndicate. The money received from this was transferred here and there through mule bank accounts and hawala.
After Chandrakar was traced in Oman, he was detained by the Royal Oman Police on the basis of Red Corner Notice of Interpol. After this, Indian agencies made formal proposals to the Omani authorities for his extradition.
The CBI completed his extradition process and brought him to India on Sunday, November 1.
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."
Saurabh Chandrakar, a resident of Bhilai, along with his partner Ravi Uppal are 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.
Under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate are top policemen, bureaucrats, bigwigs from the film industry, politicians, social workers and media persons.
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.
The ED shared information about cases related to the Mahadev app for the first time after arresting then assistant sub-inspector of Chhattisgarh Police Chandrabhushan Verma, Satish Chandrakar, hawala operators Anil Dammani and Sunil Dammani under anti-money laundering laws 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 giving franchise of 'panels/branches' to its known associates at a profit ratio of 70:30. According to the ED, large-scale hawala operations were carried out 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.
In February 2023, Saurabh Chandrakar got married 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 fly the family members from Nagpur to the UAE.
Celebrities were invited to the wedding.
Raipur Police also said that it registered FIR in 36 cases related to Mahadev App.
So far, more than two people have been arrested in these cases 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.
