Explained: What's Mahadev betting app and why Chhattisgarh CM Baghel is under fire

After hogging the limelight for its co-owner’s alleged links with Bollywood celebrities, the Mahadev betting app now finds itself at the centre of a major political storm in the poll-bound Chhattisgarh and if an ED probe into it is any indication, it may spell trouble for Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

The ED’s claim that the chief minister was a direct beneficiary in the Mahadev app scam has given the much-needed ammunition to the BJP to target Baghel in Chhattisgarh. The BJP is counting on this scam to return to power in the state as it was struggling to find major issues to attack the incumbent Congress government in the electoral arena. The party has now asked the beleaguered CM to come clean on his alleged links with the app’s UAE-based promoters.

In a related development, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued blocking orders against the Mahadev betting app along with 21 other websites and apps. “The action follows investigations conducted by the Enforcement Directorate against illegal betting app syndicate and subsequent raids on Mahadev Book in Chhattisgarh, revealing the app’s unlawful operations,” the government said.

The ministry said the Chhattisgarh government had all the power to recommend shutting down of website/app under Sec 69A IT Act. “However, they did not do so and no such request is made by the state government while they have been investigating it for the last 1.5 years. The first and only request has been received from ED and it has been acted upon. Nothing prevented the Chhattisgarh government from making similar requests.”

What is Mahadev betting app?

Mahadev app is an online betting platform that lets users gamble on various live games such as poker, card games, chance games, badminton, tennis, football and cricket. It also offers a variety of card games like Teen Patti (a card game), Poker, Dragon Tiger, and virtual cricket games.

The app is run by a network of closed groups on different instant messaging platforms. They also operate 4-5 similar platforms and reportedly earn crores of rupees every day. They post contact numbers on websites and lure people to play and make profits. These numbers can only be reached on platforms like WhatsApp. When a user contacts the given number, he/she will get two separate contact numbers. One is for depositing money and getting points in user IDs used for betting, while the other is for contacting the website to cash out the points in the assigned IDs.

The Mahadev betting app also had a variety of lotteries and betting options, from predicting election results to weather forecasts and game matches, the company continued operations of rigged betting for four years.

Who owns Mahadev betting app and what has come out in the ED investigation?

Hailing from Chhattisgarh but based in Dubai for the last couple of years, Sourabh Chandrakar, 28, and Ravi Uppal, 43, are said to be the owners of this app.

According to media reports, the duo has been suspected of amassing around Rs 5,000 crore through the illegal betting app. The ED’s investigation has revealed that operations also involved rigging of games to ensure profits for panel owners and heavy losses for players. The app owners are believed to have links in Pakistan as well as connections with local businessmen and hawala operations.

The trouble started brewing for the app owners after Chandrakar’s extravagant wedding costing Rs 250 crore triggered a probe by investigating agencies, after which they discovered the details of alleged hawala operations and their ties in the UAE and Pakistan. According to reports, private jets were hired to fly down family members of the wedding party. Further, celebrities performed at the wedding functions and a Mumbai-based events firm handled the extravaganza. All of this was paid for in cash, which in turn alerted ED.

The ED has combined at least seven FIRs filed by the victims of the scam who lost their money. The FIRs were filed across locations, including Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Goa, Ahmedabad and Chhattisgarh. As per reports, eight major international hawala operators are under scanner for laundering money to the Middle East and Pakistan by running a similar portal.

Chandrakar and his associates allegedly used at least 70 shell companies to launder money to offshore accounts. The anti-money laundering agency is now looking for options to seek cooperation from international agencies to initiate legal action against the app owner, who is currently in the UAE.

The ED has already raided several premises related to hawala operators across cities in India and attached assets worth Rs 417 crore. During a recent raid in Mumbai, the ED also tracked seven hawala kingpins who allegedly laundered the money.

What is the Bollywood connection of the Mahadev app?

Several Bollywood stars, who attended or performed at Chandrakar’s wedding in February this year and the company’s success party in September last year, are under the ED scanner. Media reports claim that these stars allegedly accepted a huge amount of cash as payment for attending or performing at the wedding. The money is the proceeds of the crime and the stars are liable for taking the money.

Almost 17 Bollywood celebrities have come under the ED’s radar for receiving money from the promoters of the Mahadev app for “promoting their product”. As per reports, the star-studded wedding had witnessed performances by Vishal Dadlani, Tiger Shroff, Sonakshi Sinha, Atif Aslam, Sunny Leone, Neha Kakkar, Ali Asgar, Bharti Singh, Bhagyashree, Pulkit Samrat, Elli Avram and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The names of Ranbir Kapoor, Kapil Sharma, Shraddha Kapoor and Huma Qureshi also cropped up in the Mahadev money laundering scam probe. The ED had even summoned Ranbir in connection with the case.

Why is Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel facing the heat over the issue?

The ED claimed that Chief Minister Baghel was a direct beneficiary in the Mahadev app scam while attributing the claim to revelations made by one Asim Das who was recently arrested in Raipur.

The agency said, “Asim Das admitted that he was carrying Rs 5 crore to deliver to the ruling political executives of Chhattisgarh. He named ‘Bhupesh Baghel’ CM of Chhattisgarh, as the intended final recipient for the cash seized from his control.” It also claimed that Das was a “cash courier sent from UAE especially, to deliver large amounts of cash for electioneering expenses of the ruling Congress Party”.

The ED claimed that during questioning, Das said that one of the “top management” people of the Mahadev app, Shubham Soni (alias Pintu) gave him Rs 5.39 crore in cash and asked him to hand this over to the “associates of Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh”. The ED also claimed to have recorded a statement of Das in which he alleged that Baghel received Rs 508 crore from the Mahadev app promoters based in the UAE.

“He said he was specifically called to Dubai recently and then sent back with specific instructions to deliver cash. He had received cash from the associates of Mahadev Book App and he was asked to wait at Hotel Room No 311 of Hotel Triton, awaiting further directions for delivery of this amount to the associates of ‘Baghel’,” the ED said.

The agency claimed that forensic and digital evidence recovered from the phone seized from Asim Das also corroborates the allegations made by him.

Who is Shubham Soni, the self-proclaimed owner of the app, and what has he stated against Baghel in a recently released video?

Soni, a key accused in the case, made a sensational claim and alleged that Chief Minister Baghel had encouraged him to set up his gambling business in Dubai when he had approached the Congress leader for help regarding the arrest of his associates in Bhilai. He also alleged that he was made to pay Rs 508 crore to the Chief Minister.

Before levelling the allegations, Soni claimed that he was the owner of the Mahadev betting app and had founded it in 2021, adding that he had paperwork to prove the same.

In a video message, Soni alleged that he had a meeting with CM Baghel which was arranged by Vinod Verma, a political advisor to the chief minister. “I started the app in 2021, and my gambling business in Bhilai was doing well. It started small but grew bigger, and we had more money. People started to notice. When my friends got into trouble, I started paying Vermaji (Vinod Verma) Rs 10 lakh every month for protection,” he said.

He said that while his gambling business was going well in Dubai, his associates were still getting arrested in Bhilai, so he came back to Chhattisgarh and met with the then Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal. Later, he said he spoke to Bhagel on the phone again and was asked to give him Rs 508 crore.

“I did what Prashantji told me, including the payment of Rs 508 crore. However, I’m still facing problems. I've given all the details in my written statement. I need help to get out of this situation in the political system and return to India,” he said at the end of the video message.

What Chief Minister Baghel had to say about the allegations levelled against him?

Baghel denounced the BJP after the release of Soni’s video while questioning its timing with Chhattisgarh going for the first phase of polling on Tuesday (November 7).

“It is no mystery why and how this video has come and it is also not difficult to understand that such a statement has been issued at the time of elections only to benefit the BJP,” Baghel said in a post on X. “Everyone also understands that this is being done by weaponising ED. In fact, BJP is now contesting elections with the help of ED and is using it to defame me,” he added.

Baghel hit out at Soni for claiming that he is the Mahadev app owner, saying, “This person is claiming that he is the owner of Mahadev App. Surprisingly, even the ED, the agency which has been investigating this case for months, was not aware of this and till two days ago, the ED was calling him a manager,” Baghel said.

Calling for Soni’s arrest from Dubai, the Congress leader said that it was the Chhattisgarh Police that first issued a lookout notice against him, adding that the state police would also like to take him in remand and interrogate him.

Earlier, Baghel had launched a scathing attack on the BJP, saying, “As I said earlier, BJP wants to fight elections by using central agencies like ED. Just before the elections, an ugly attempt is made to spoil my image. This is a political attempt to defame the popular Congress government through ED’s medium. Earlier, in the Mahadev app case, ED defamed people close to me by raiding their homes, and now, suddenly, based on a person’s statement, they have made an allegation of me taking Rs 508 crore.”