Mahadev app owner Ravi Uppal detained in Dubai; ED seeks deportation
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New Delhi: Ravi Uppal, one of the two main owners of the Mahadev online betting app, has been detained in Dubai by the local police on the basis of a red notice issued by the Interpol at the behest of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), official sources said Wednesday.
Uppal, 43, was detained last week in that country and the ED authorities are in touch with the Dubai authorities to get him deported to India, they said.
The Mahadev online book betting application is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites and reportedly turned over a profit of ₹ 200 crore a day. The app had caused a political stir ahead of the elections in Chhattisgarh in November.
The businessman is being probed by the ED in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal betting through online apps apart from the Chhattisgarh and Mumbai Police crime branch.
The federal probe agency had filed a money laundering charge sheet against Uppal and another promoter of the Internet-based platform, Sourabh Chandrakar, before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur in October.
A red notice was subsequently issued against the two by Interpol on the basis of the ED's request based on a court-issued non-bailable warrant. The process is on to find Chandrakant, 28, too, the sources said.
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The agency had informed the court in the charge sheet that Uppal holds a passport of Vanuatu, an island country in the Pacific Ocean, and had been "roaming freely" using that, but had not renounced his Indian citizenship. He had also applied for an Australian visa using the passport.
Uppal, the ED said in the prosecution complaint, "generated and enjoyed proceeds of crime and is involved in their concealment and layering." It had alleged Uppal was "looking after the delivery of the liaisoning money to the bureaucrats and politicians of Chhattisgarh through Chandrabhushan Verma", an assistant sub-inspector of police, and some others.
The projected proceeds of crime in this case is about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED.
The agency had claimed in November, just before the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls, that forensic analysis and statement made by a 'cash courier' named Asim Das have led to "startling allegations" that Mahadev betting app promoters have paid about Rs 508 crore to former Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel so far, adding these allegations were "subject matter of investigation".
Das had later submitted before the special court in Raipur that he had been framed as part of a conspiracy and he had never delivered cash to politicians.
The company promoters hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh. The other promoter of the app, Sourabh Chandrakar, whose ₹ 200-crore wedding in Dubai had been attended by several Bollywood celebrities in February, is still on the run and efforts are on to trace him, ED officials said, reports NDTV.
Several Bollywood actors and other celebrities, including Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and Kapil Sharma have been summoned by the ED for either appearing in ads for the app or performing at Sourabh Chandrakar's wedding in Dubai.
The ED investigation has shown that the Mahadev Online Book App is run from a central head office in the UAE, officials said. It operates by franchising "Panel/Branches" to their known associates on a 70-30 per cent profit ratio, it had said.
Several subsidiary betting apps were run by the two men and several other people, and call centres were operated in different cities in India, Malaysia, Thailand and the UAE. At least 30 call centres were run over India, including in Chhattisgarh.
The apps run by this organisation witnessed transactions worth thousands of crores and their daily profit was to the tune of nearly ₹ 200 crore a day.
Large scale hawala operations are done to siphon off the proceeds of betting to off-shore accounts, it had said.
Large expenditure in cash is also being done in India for advertising of betting websites to attract new users and franchise (panel) seekers, the ED had said.
ED officials said Chandrakar and Uppal also had links with the police, bureaucrats and politicians, and regular payments were made to ensure that the app stayed off the radar of investigating agencies, reports NDTV.
The ED has, so far, arrested 6 people in the case - Sunil Damani, Anil Damani, Assistant Sub-Inspector Chandrabhushan Verma of the Chhattisgarh Police, a constable and Satish Chandrakar.
With PTI inputs
