Mahadev betting app case: CBI searches 33 locations in six states

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has searched 33 locations across six states in the Mahadev Online Book betting app case, the agency said on Saturday (14 November). The searches, carried out over the past few days at premises linked to the app's "panel operators", were based on disclosures made by Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the platform's principal promoters, after he was extradited from Oman.

The locations searched include Amritsar, Delhi, Nagaur, Dholpur, Bhopal, Raipur, Durg, Indore, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Mumbai and Nagpur, according to The Times of India and The Tribune. The CBI said live betting and gambling panels were found running and were dismantled. It said digital devices, mobile phones and documents showing the use of mule bank accounts and a hawala network were recovered and seized.

The agency alleges that the platform is run from abroad through a head office (Hindustan Times reported it as Dubai) and works in India through a large network of panel operators. According to the CBI, these operators handle customer IDs, collect betting money in bank accounts opened or hired in other people's names, and send the profits abroad through hawala channels. These are the agency's allegations; none has been tested in court.

Chandrakar was extradited from Oman and arrested by the CBI on 1 November. A special CBI court in Raipur gave the agency eight days of police custody, and HT reported that he was questioned from 2 to 12 November. He was produced in court on 12 November and remanded to judicial custody till 19 November, the CBI said. The Tribune reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him on Friday (13 November) in a money-laundering case after getting a special court's permission, and that the court sent him to ED custody till 19 November.

The CBI has registered two FIRs in the case, which was transferred to it from the Chhattisgarh government. It said its investigation is continuing into the role of other accused, including those based abroad, people who facilitated the operations and "the public servants concerned", and that steps are under way to extradite the other absconding accused. HT reported that Chandrakar's business partner Ravi Uppal has already been arrested in Dubai and that India is seeking his extradition. India Today called it a ₹6,000-crore betting scam, while HT reported that the ED has estimated proceeds linked to Mahadev and related platforms at about ₹94,000 crore.

The CBI also cautioned the public that online betting and gambling are illegal, and that lending or renting out one's bank account, SIM card or identity documents for such activity is a criminal offence. The accused are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.