Mahadev betting app kingpin's extradition will reveal protection money recipients, says Sai
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said questioning Sourabh Chandrakar could expose those who received money to protect the syndicate.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said on Monday that questioning Mahadev betting app kingpin Sourabh Chandrakar would reveal who received protection money from the syndicate. According to reports from The Hindu and The Times of India, Chandrakar was extradited from Oman following a Red Corner Notice and efforts by the CBI and ED.
The CBI stated that it secured Chandrakar's extradition from Oman in coordination with other agencies. On Monday, a Delhi court granted the CBI two days of transit remand for the accused, with instructions to produce him before a special CBI court in Raipur on or before November 4.
Chandrakar is wanted in two CBI cases and an ED money-laundering case. Investigators allege the Mahadev Online Book operated a large illegal betting network and that proceeds were moved through mule accounts and hawala channels. The ED has estimated the alleged proceeds of crime at approximately Rs 6,000 crore.
In March 2024, the state's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) registered an FIR naming former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, app promoters Ravi Uppal and Shubham Soni, and Anil Kumar Agrawal as accused. Baghel has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.
The state government transferred 70 police cases and one EOW case related to the scam to the CBI in August 2024. Chandrakar was located and detained in Oman earlier this year by the Royal Oman Police.