In a major success for the Enforcement Directorate, the Dubai Police on Tuesday arrested Ravi Uppal, one of the two prime accused in the Mahadev Book online betting syndicate. Uppal is also the alleged co-promoter of the app.
According to the sources, the arrest was made by Dubai police on the basis of a red corner notice issued by Interpol at the behest of ED. Uppal will be extradited to India soon.
In the Mahadev betting app case, there are allegations of fraud of 15,000 crore rupees along with match-fixing, illegal hawala, and cryptocurrency transactions.
The Enforcement Directorate had filed a charge sheet in connection with the Mahadev online betting app case. According to the officials, 14 accused have been named in the charge sheet, namely Sourabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal, Vikas Chhapariya, Chandrabhushan Verma, Satish Chandrakar, Anil Dammani, Sunil Dammani, Vishal Ahuja, Dheeraj Ahuja, Srijan Assiciates through Punaram Verma, Shiv Kumar Verma, Punaram Verma Shiv Kumar Verma, Yashoda Verma and Pawan Nathani.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the Mahadev Online Book Betting app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enroll new users, create user IDs, and launder money through a layered web of Benami bank accounts.
The ED in mid-September this year released details of its investigation into the online money laundering case linked with the Mahadev Online Book Betting App. Wedding planners, dancers, decorators etc, were hired from Mumbai and hawala channels were allegedly used to make payments in cash, the agency had said.
The agency said Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal who hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh are the two main promoters of the Mahadev betting platform and ran their operations from Dubai. They had created an empire for themselves in that country.
The agency had recently conducted searches at 39 locations across Raipur, Bhopal, Mumbai and Kolkata and seized illegal assets worth Rs 417 crore. ED has also earnestly taken up investigation abroad.
A Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court at Raipur has also issued non-bailable warrants against the suspects. The ED which is investigating money laundering charges in connection with the Mahadev Online Book app had also conducted searches in Chhattisgarh and arrested four accused including the chief liaisoner of the betting syndicate, which the probe agency alleged was organizing payment of bribes to senior government functionaries as ‘protection money’. ED had stated that it has successfully identified other major players involved in the money laundering operations of the app.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is investigating the Mahadev Book Online Betting APP syndicate, in which the promoters of this betting syndicate are allegedly sitting abroad and remotely running thousands of panels across India with the help of their friends and associates.