New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday raided premises linked to former Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel as part of a probe into alleged illegal operations of the Mahadev Book betting app.
The raids—covering 60 locations across Raipur, Bhilai, Kolkata, Bhopal and Delhi—follow the transfer of the case to the CBI in August 2024. The case booking Baghel and other officials was initially filed by the Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in March 2024 on information shared by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Responding to the raids on social media platform X, Baghel questioned the allegations of Mahadev Online Booking (MOB) getting protection from his government, citing the registration of 74 FIRs, more than 200 arrests and attachment of more than 2,000 bank accounts linked to the app.
The ED, which was investigating the case, claimed that in November 2023, it arrested one of the couriers linked to the app’s promoters. The individual was apprehended in Raipur while allegedly carrying funds intended to bribe Baghel.
Following the recovery of Rs 5.39 crore from the courier, Asim Das, the agency alleged that the former CM had received regular payments from the app’s promoters amounting to around Rs 508 crore.
Congress General Secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal refuted the allegations and labelled the action by the ED a “clear-cut” conspiracy to defame the image of Bhupesh Baghel and the Congress party.
Baghel has alleged the raids were conducted to provide ammunition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is due to visit the state on 30 March.
Based on the ED’s information, the Chhattisgarh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had in March last year booked Baghel, promoters Satish and Saurabh Chandrakar, along with other people associated with the syndicate under multiple sections, including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery of valuable securities and forgery committed with the intent to cheat.
The CBI’s latest move comes nearly a fortnight after the ED raided premises linked to Baghel’s son in a money laundering probe related to an excise policy case in the state.
The agency claims the excise policy formulated by Baghel’s government between 2018 and 2023 resulted in losses of Rs 2,100 crore to the state.
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From Bhilai to Dubai
The ED’s case began in October when it opened an Enforcement Complaint Information Report (ECIR) based on a case filed by Durg district police against three individuals linked to the Mahadev Book app in July that year.
Subsequently, five more cases under investigation by Chhattisgarh Police and Andhra Pradesh Police were included in the ECIR.
The ED’s investigation revealed that Mahadev Book provides online platforms for illegal betting in different live games like poker, card games, chance games, cricket, badminton, tennis and football. It also provided players to play card games like Teen Patti, Poker, Dragon Tiger and Virtual Cricket.
Controlled by two men from Bhilai, Sourabh and Uppal Chandrakar, Mahadev Online Book group allegedly generated illicit funds of about Rs 450 crore per month.
The agency alleged that the platform lured users by allowing them to win in initial rounds before restricting withdrawals and siphoning funds through hawala channels.
During the investigation, statements from two more associates of MOB—Kunal Agrawal and Nitish Dewan—revealed that the operations were being run by promoters based in Dubai.
Retraction of confession and denial of retraction
In a prosecution complaint filed before the Raipur court in January last year, the ED submitted that it raided a hotel room in the city based on intelligence that MOB’s promoters were moving cash for delivery to select politicians in the state.
After the raid, the agency arrested Das, who allegedly confessed to having been sent by one Shubham Soni, another MOB promoter, to deliver cash to Baghel.
However, weeks after his arrest, Das moved an application before the Raipur court refuting the ED’s allegations of carrying cash from the UAE-based app promoters to deliver it to the Chhattisgarh CM. Instead, he claimed that the money given by Soni was for starting a construction business.
In an unusual twist, the ED alleged that Das retracted his denial and later reaffirmed his original confession, saying he had been coerced into signing a pre-typed retraction statement without understanding its implications.
“This person gave him a pre-typed document and asked him to reproduce it in his handwriting. He didn’t know to whom the retraction was forwarded and signed it, believing it would be beneficial to his case,” the ED told the court.
Later in June, the Chhattisgarh ACB filed a chargesheet against 10 people linked to MOB, but did not name Baghel.
“It is alleged that the promoters of Mahadev Book App took the protection of various police and administrative officers and influential political persons to prevent legal action against this criminal act of the online betting app, in return for which they paid them huge amounts of money regularly in the form of protection money,” the ACB alleged in the chargesheet.
“Hawala operators were used for arranging and distributing the said illegal amount and police officers/employees were also used for distributing illegal protection money to police and administrative officers.”
According to the ACB chargesheet, the protection money reached police officers and employees who distributed it through hawala operators.
“Various police, administrative officers and influential political persons have misused their position and obtained illegal financial benefits in the form of protection money and acquired illegal property,” the ACB alleged in the chargesheet.
Nearly 9 months after the Vishnu Deo Sai-led government took office in the state, the case probed by the ACB was handed over to the CBI, which booked Baghel and carried out raids Wednesday.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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