Mahadev betting app: CBI raids Amritsar, ED says scam hit ₹92,000 crore

Amritsar. Mahadev app betting panels were running live when CBI teams walked into premises in Amritsar and 12 other cities. The agency shut them down on the spot and seized phones, digital devices and papers that it says expose a web of mule bank accounts and hawala routes.

The 33 premises raided belonged to the app’s panel operators across six states and Delhi. The searches followed the questioning of the alleged kingpin, Sourabh Chandrakar. They came as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a Raipur court on Friday that the racket’s proceeds of crime had crossed ₹92,000 crore. Its first chargesheet in October 2023 had put the figure at about ₹10,000 crore.

The ED claimed the app “continued to operate unabated” even after that chargesheet. It said two co-accused told it they ran betting panels from Dubai, one about 10 and the other about 35.

“Digital devices, mobile phones and incriminating documents showing the use of mule accounts and a hawala network have been recovered and seized,” the CBI said on Saturday.

Amritsar was the only city in Punjab on the list. The others were Delhi, Nagaur, Dholpur, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Durg, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Mumbai and Nagpur.

According to the CBI, the platform is run from a head office abroad, allegedly in the UAE, through a chain of panel operators in India. “These operators handle customer IDs, collect betting money in the bank accounts exclusively opened or hired in the names of other persons, and send the profits abroad through hawala channels,” officials said. The agency warned that lending or renting out a bank account, SIM card or identity papers for betting is a criminal offence.

Chandrakar, 31, once ran a juice shop in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. He was extradited from Oman on November 1 after he was reportedly found there on a forged Indonesian passport. After eight days in CBI custody, he was arrested by the ED on Friday, and a court gave the agency his custody till November 19. “In ED custody, Saurabh Chandrakar will be confronted with the statements of his associates, digital data and documents concerning his foreign entities,” the ED said.

His co-promoter, Ravi Uppal, was arrested in the UAE earlier this month, and India is seeking his extradition. The CBI said it is also probing the role of public servants and of accused operating from abroad.

The ED has alleged that about ₹200 crore in cash was spent on Chandrakar’s wedding at Ras Al Khaimah in February 2023. Private jets flew in his relatives and celebrities were paid to perform, the agency claims. So far, the ED says it has searched about 190 premises and attached property worth about ₹3,500 crore, including 22 properties in Dubai.