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 ED, official sources said Wednesday.

Uppal, 43, was detained last week in that country and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) authorities are in touch with the Dubai authorities to get him deported to India, they said.

Uppal is being probed by the ED in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal betting apart from the Chhattisgarh Police and Mumbai Police.

The probe agency had filed a money laundering chargesheet 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 by the Interpol on the basis of ED’s request.

The agency had informed the court in the charge sheet that Uppal has taken a passport of Vanuatu, an island country in the Pacific Ocean, even as he has not renounced Indian citizenship.

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 liasioning 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, as per 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 that 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 ED investigation has shown that 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 70-30 per cent profit ratio, it had said.

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.

The company promoters hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh and the Mahadev online book betting application is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In a big development in the Mahadev betting app case, one of the two main promoters, Ravi Uppal, has been detained by the police in Dubai based on a red corner notice issued by Interpol at the request of the Enforcement Directorate. Uppal was detained last week and sources said he is likely to be deported to India soon. 

The Mahadev app, which reportedly turned over a profit of Rs 200 crore a day, had also caused a political stir ahead of the elections in Chhattisgarh in November. 

The Enforcement Directorate had claimed that a cash courier, Asim Das, had alleged that the promoters of the app had paid Rs 508 crore to then Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel. When he was produced before a court, however, the courier had said he was being framed as part of a conspiracy and he had never delivered any cash to politicians. 

During its investigation, the agency found that Uppal holds a passport of Vanuatu, a country in the Pacific Ocean, and had been “roaming freely” using that, but had not given up his Indian citizenship. He had also applied for an Australian visa using the passport.

The other promoter of the app, Sourabh Chandrakar, whose Rs 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. 

How The App Worked

According to the ED investigation so far, the key movers behind the app were Chandrakar and Uppal, who hailed from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh but operated out of Dubai. 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 Rs 200 crore a day. 

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. 

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.

Roles, Linkages

The Indian operations were being run by brothers Anil and Sunil Damani, who were close associates of the promoters. ED officials said the Damani brothers opened several benami bank accounts, which were used to move money. 

The promoters would send cash to the Damani brothers in Chhattisgarh using hawala channels and Assistant Sub-Inspector Chandrabhushan Verma would deliver part of it to police officers, bureaucrats and politicians as bribes, officials said. 

During his interrogation, Anil Damani told the police that he and his brother had done transactions worth Rs 60 to 65 crore through hawala channels in the past two-three years at the behest of Uppal. 

“Anil Damani also said that the brothers ran a hawala channel through their jewellery shop in Raipur. Their call details have revealed that they were in constant touch with Uppal,” said an official. 

Satish Chandrakar ran four call centres for the organisation and had a five per cent stake in them. He also looked after illegal money transactions, officials said, adding that he had links with known gangster and drug dealer Tapan Sarkar, who is on the run. 

Ravi Uppal and Sourabh Chandrakar have denied their involvement with the Mahadev app or the betting syndicate and said that these were run by one Shubham Soni, who is also based in Dubai. The courier who was caught with over Rs 5 crore ahead of the Chhattisgarh elections had claimed he had been given the money by Soni.

Soni had also released a video claiming that Bhupesh Baghel had been given Rs 508 crore by the Mahadev app promoters.

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.