New Delhi: In another major breakthrough within a week, Ravi Uppal, businessman and co-founder of the Mahadev online betting app and a key accused in the multi-crore illegal betting syndicate, has been arrested in Dubai, sources in the security establishment confirmed to ThePrint.
On Sunday, Sourabh Chandrakar, his partner and one of the fugitive promoters of Mahadev Online Book, was brought back to India from Oman following his extradition by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Uppal and Chandrakar, both originally from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, allegedly ran Mahadev Online Book from Dubai. The illegal betting platform is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and police in multiple states.
Chandrakar was detained by the Royal Oman Police in June this year on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner Notice, prompting the CBI and ED to immediately send formal extradition requests to the Sultanate.
According to a CBI officer, both Uppal and Chandrakar hold passports issued by Vanuatu, which they allegedly obtained using forged documents.
With Uppal’s arrest and Chandrakar’s extradition, both alleged masterminds of the Mahadev betting syndicate are now within the reach of Indian investigative agencies. Their custody is expected to help investigators unravel the full extent of the illegal betting network, trace its financial operations and identify others involved in the racket, which is currently estimated to be worth over Rs 75,000 crore.
After Chandrakar was brought to India, he was taken to Raipur, where the CBI secured his remand from a court on Wednesday. He has since been brought to Delhi for questioning. Uppal has been detained in Dubai and the process to bring him to India will now begin.
“His questioning will help us identify key players in this entire racket, the scale of the network and the money involved. He is also an accused in the ED’s case, and the agency will question him on the money laundering aspect,” a source in the security establishment said. “The process to bring Uppal to India will also begin now. The idea is to bring all key accused in the case who are sitting abroad to India.”
According to investigators, the duo built a customer base of thousands and allegedly amassed several thousand crores through illegal betting operations. The money was regularly routed abroad through hawala channels, with a portion allegedly used to pay kickbacks to stakeholders in India.
Mahadev Online Book operates as an illegal betting platform, offering wagers on sporting events such as cricket, badminton, tennis and football, besides card games such as teen patti, poker and ‘Dragon Tiger’, other games of chance and virtual cricket.
The app even allows users to place bets on elections in India, sources in the agency said.
How the app works
According to officers, Mahadev Online Book operates through multiple websites and closed groups on instant messaging platforms, managed by individuals known as ‘panel owners’.
These panel owners advertise contact numbers linked to Mahadev Online Book on websites, luring people with the promise of earning money through online betting. Once users click on an advertisement, they are directed to WhatsApp numbers for further communication.
They are then asked to deposit money into designated bank accounts to purchase credits or tokens, which can be used to place bets on the platform. For instance, a deposit of Rs 5,000 could fetch a participant 10,000 tokens, which are then credited to their user ID on the app.
According to investigators, the operation is so extensive that the task of attracting customers and collecting money through different bank accounts is outsourced to panel owners recruited from across the country.
The main office, however, was managed by Chandrakar and Uppal from Dubai and was commonly referred to as the ‘Head Office’, an ED source had earlier told ThePrint.
“The betting app is operated by various panels or branches sold by Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal like a small franchise. But they keep nearly 80 percent of the profit of the operations,” the source had said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)