Mahadev online betting: ED gets co-owner Saurabh Chandrakar’s custody till Nov 19

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Raipur, Nov 13 (IANS) A Special Court (PMLA) has remanded Saurabh Chandrakar, co-owner and promoter of the Mahadev Online Book illegal betting syndicate, to ED custody till November 19 for questioning, an official said on Friday.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested him under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) during the day with the permission of the Special Court, the official said in a statement.

In ED custody, Saurabh Chandrakar will be confronted with the statements of his associates, digital data and documents concerning his foreign entities and evidence of commission of the offence of money laundering, said the statement.

Saurabh Chandrakar and another co-promoter Ravi Uppal operated “Mahadev Online Book” (various online betting websites) from Head Office in Dubai through a franchise of “betting panels” across India and the UAE, the ED said.

Player money went through bank accounts held in other people’s names and left India through hawala. The ED’s main complaint of October 20, 2023 estimated the syndicate’s earnings at about Rs 450 crore a month, the statement said.

Saurabh Chandrakar did not answer the summons issued to him by the ED in September 2023 and continued to evade investigation by law enforcement agencies.

On the ED’s application, the Special Court issued a Non-Bailable Warrant against him on September 4, 2023, and shortly thereafter, Interpol also published a Red Notice against him, said the statement.

His challenge to the warrant was dismissed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh on March 22, 2025. He obtained a passport of Vanuatu while holding an Indian passport, and even claimed before the Special Court that he had given up Indian citizenship on June 28, 2022, it said.

The ED pursued his return through an extradition request issued by the Special Court to the Sultanate of Oman under the India-Oman Extradition Treaty, sent through diplomatic channels.

The Court of Appeal, Muscat, ordered his extradition on October 8, 2026, rejecting his plea on citizenship on the confirmation of the Embassy of India that he is an Indian national and recorded that he was apprehended while departing through Muscat International Airport on a forged travel document.

A team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the nodal agency for such matters, brought him back from Muscat on November 1, 2026.

In this case, ED has so far searched about 190 premises, seized or frozen about Rs 2,000 crore and attached property now valued at about Rs 3,500 crore, about Rs 1,800 crore of it abroad, including 22 immovable properties in Dubai. It has filed six prosecution complaints against 116 accused. Saurabh Chandrakar is the 15th person arrested by ED in this case.

In July 2026, the ED arrested Vikas Garg, whose companies received about Rs 940 crore of betting proceeds, of which about Rs 766 crore went into the acquisition of the United States company Ebix Inc.

The ED has attached about Rs 941 crore in that limb. Saurabh Chandrakar’s wedding at Ras Al Khaimah in February 2023 cost about Rs 200 crore in cash, with three chartered aircraft from Nagpur.

The ED traced that money through the Event Company, hotels and angadia firms, and the guest list it recovered identified the management of the syndicate.

–IANS

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