Betting app case accused claims Chhattisgarh CM told him to go to Dubai: Report

An accused in the Mahadev betting app case has reportedly made an explosive claim in a video accusing Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel of advising him to go to Dubai.

A report in NDTV said the accused in the Mahadev betting app case, Shubham Soni, who is wanted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case, has made a video from Dubai.

In the video, he makes serious allegations against Baghel and claimed he had gone there on the advice of the Chhattisgarh CM.

Morever, he claimed that he is the "real owner" of Mahadev — the betting app that is under investigation by the central investigative agencies for generating huge profits.

Startling allegations

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday (November 3) claimed that a forensic analysis and a statement made by a "cash courier" led to "startling allegations" that Mahadev betting app promoters have paid about ₹508 crore to Baghel so far, and that "these are subject matter of investigation".

The alleged agent, 38-year-old Asim Das, has been arrested by the agency in Raipur after it recovered ₹5.39 crore cash from him. He was allegedly sent by the app promoters from the UAE "especially, to deliver large amounts of cash for electioneering expenses of the ruling Congress Party". According to the ED, they had seized ₹ 5.39 crore in cash from a courier called Asim Das, who claimed that Shubham Soni had sent it from Dubai for Baghel.

Quoting sources, the report alleged that on questioning Asim Das, and after the forensic examination of his cellphone and Soni's e-mail, the agency discovered that regular payments were made in the past and so far around ₹508 crore have been paid by Mahadev App Promoters to Chhattisgarh CM, Bhupesh Baghel.

BJP hits out at Congress

Meanwhile, the BJP on Sunday (November 5) continued to target the Congress over the Mahadev betting app case. The BJP asked its former president Rahul Gandhi as well as Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to clarify their alleged links with the money transaction in the case.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that the “facts” coming out in the case indicate that the Congress has no match in “inventing new ways of corruption and cheating”.

“Be it inventing new ways of corruption or setting new benchmarks of corruption, the Congress party is today a living proof that no one can match them. Breaking their own previous records, they have now set a new record,” Trivedi charged.

Referring to media reports, the BJP leader said that a person sitting in Dubai has claimed that he is the owner of the betting app, and he has also clearly talked about giving money to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Baghel and his associates.

“Given the new revelations coming in, it won't be an exaggeration to say that the way the Congress is inventing new methods of corruption and cheating, the Chhattisgarh government has perhaps added a new dimension to it. Perhaps it is leaving behind infamous international thugs like Natwarlal and Charles Sobhraj also,” he alleged.

“In view of the new forms of corruption coming to light in Chhattisgarh, it seems that corruption has many fathers but the money is orphan,” he charged. “Bhupesh Baghel and Rahul Gandhi both have no other option but to clarify where this money came from... Congress should clearly give a reply to the question as to what is the relation between this corruption and the Gulf countries,” the BJP leader said.

(With agency reports)