Mahadev Betting App Owner Ravi Uppal Held in Dubai; ED Seeks Deportation

GG News Bureau
Dubai, 13th Dec. Ravi Uppal, one of the two main owners of the Mahadev online betting app, was held in Dubai by local authorities on the basis of a red notice issued by Interpol at the request of the ED, according to official sources.

Uppal, 43, was held in that country last week, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is in contact with Dubai officials to get him returned to India, they added.

Apart from the Chhattisgarh and Mumbai Police crime branches, the businessman is being investigated by the ED in a money laundering case related to alleged unlawful betting through internet apps.

In October, the federal investigation agency 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 Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

Following the ED’s request, Interpol issued a red notice against the two on the basis of a court-issued non-bailable warrant.

The search for Chandrakant, 28, is also underway, according to reports.

In the charge sheet, the agency informed the court that Uppal had obtained a passport from Vanuatu, an island country in the Pacific Ocean, despite the fact that he had not renounced his 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, 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 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.