ED Files Fresh Chargesheet In Mahadev Betting App Scam To Secure Extradition Of Promotors

In another development in the Mahadev betting app scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly filed a fresh charge sheet before a special court in Raipur.

The financial crimes investigation agency will share this second chargesheet with authorities in Dubai to secure either the deportation or extradition of the two main promoters of the app, Ravi Uppal and Sourabh Chandrakar, NDTV reported, citing official sources.

The development comes after Uppal was recently detained in Dubai based on an Interpol red notice issued against them at the behest of the ED. The federal agency is also said to have shared the contents of the first chargesheet with the UAE authorities, which formed the basis for a non-bailable warrant secured against the two.

The fresh chargesheet, which is said to be around 1,800 pages long, was filed on January 1 and the accused, including alleged cash courier Aseem Das, police constable Bheem Singh Yadav, Shubham Soni, a prominent executive linked to the app, have been named as accused.

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court is expected to take cognisance of the charge sheet on January 10, ED counsel Saurabh Pandey was cited as saying.

The development also comes after PTI reported in December that the ED may file a second chargesheet in the case and share its contents with Dubai authorities to strengthen the case against Uppal and Chandrakar to secure their custody. Das and Yadav were arrested by the agency in November last year.

A Marriage That Led To The Scam Crashing

The Mahadev betting app scam was first brought to the fore after Chandrakar’s wedding at Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE in February last year, a ceremony which was worth an alleged INR 200 Cr, according to ED’s first chargesheet in September 2023.

The ED said that the entire INR 200 Cr spent on the wedding was paid entirely ‘in cash’. As per the agency, wedding planners, dancers and decorators were hired from Mumbai and payments were made in cash through hawala channels. 

As the ED crackdown began on the alleged scam, connections to celebrities, politicians and industrialists started to emerge, which led to the ED summoning dozens of big names from across the country. 

In November, the ED alleged that forensic analysis and statements made by Asim Das have led to ‘startling allegations’ that Mahadev betting app promoters paid about INR 508 Cr to former Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel so far, adding these allegations were ‘subject matter of investigation’. 

Baghel had called these charges an attempt to ‘malign’ his image while the Congress called its ‘vendetta politics’ of the Centre against its CM.

Uppal and Chandrakar have also denied all charges levelled by the enforcement directorate and any association with the alleged betting racket. In a statement to Inc42 earlier, the duo asserted that the claims were ‘entirely baseless’ and represented an ‘attempt to tarnish their reputation’. 

The agency has projected the proceeds of crime in this case at about INR 6,000 Cr.