The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a corruption and cheating case in connection with the Mahadev online betting app scandal, people familiar with developments said on Monday, roughly four months after the Chhattisgarh government asked the agency to probe the larger conspiracy and role of public servants in a case where former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel was earlier named.
The federal agency registered a regular case (or first information report) last week by consolidating 77 FIRs filed at various police stations and economic offences wing (EOW) in Chhattisgarh, said the people cited above.
Baghel was named as an accused along with Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, the fugitive founders of Mahadev whose extraditions are being pursued in the United Arab Emirates, in an FIR filed by the Chhattisgarh Police on March 4, 2024.
This FIR has now been taken over by CBI, but it was not clear if Baghel was named in the agency’s re-registered case. “Baghel is definitely under the scanner since he was named by the Chhattisgarh police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED),” said an official aware of developments.
HT reached out to Baghel’s political aide for a comment from the former CM but received no response at the time of going to print. On previous instances, he has vigorously defended himself, saying his name was “forcefully” added by the ruling BJP.
As first reported by HT, the Chhattisgarh government recommended a CBI probe in the Mahadev case in August 2024, roughly nine months after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state, displacing the Congress.
Over the past four months, the agency was occupied in consolidating the voluminous case documents including FIRs, charge sheets filed by the state police, and court documents. The entire exercise of taking over all the files finished last week after which CBI launched its regular case.
In its charge sheet filed in July 2024, EOW of Chhattisgarh police stated that the Mahadev service was still operational, and its promoters obtained protection from various police and administrative officials, as well as influential political figures to prevent legal action against their criminal activities related to online betting.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a money laundering probe in the matter, alleged that Chandrakar and Uppal paid bribes worth ₹508 crore to former CM Baghel. Chhattisgarh police’s FIR naming Baghel was filed on a reference from ED.
The agency has alleged that the Mahadev online betting app syndicate – which started in 2018 and saw Chandrakar and Uppal remotely run illegal betting operations, with the proceeds of crimes running into several thousand crores – allowed people to put illegal bets on live games such as poker, card games, chance games, matches of cricket, badminton, tennis and football, and even allowed access to apps to place bets on elections in India.
ED said in its second charge sheet that the “betting empire” was operating more than 3,200 (betting) panels in different cities, which generate around ₹40 crore per day.
ED added in its January 2024 charge sheet that “promoters of Mahadev Online Book had rented 20 villas in Dubai to accommodate its staff comprising 3,500 persons.”
So far, ED has filed two charge sheets in the case, including one against Chandrakar and Uppal. It has estimated proceeds of crime in the case worth about ₹6,000 crore, out of which assets worth ₹2,426 crore have been attached, seized or frozen under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).