Mahadev App case: FIR against former Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel

The Economic Offences Wing of Raipur has registered an FIR against former Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and others in the Mahadev App case, news agency ANI reported on Sunday. The case has been registered under sections 120B, 34, 406, 420, 467, 468, and 471 of IPC, the agency said, adding that the case was registered on March 4 against Bhupesh Baghel and 21 others. 

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing the money laundering angle in the alleged illegal operations of the Mahadev online gaming and betting application that purportedly involve high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh.

In February, the central agency made its ninth arrest in the case. The agency had earlier said the alleged illegal funds generated by the app were used to pay bribes to politicians and bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh. Several celebrities, including Bollywood actors, were summoned for questioning by the agency on their links with the online betting platform and the mode of payment.

So far, the ED has filed two chargesheets, including against the two main promoters of the alleged illegal betting and gaming app — Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal.

The central agency has alleged in the first chargesheet that Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah, UAE in February 2023 and an amount of about Rs 200 crore "in cash" was spent on the event. It said private jets were hired to ferry Chandrakar’s relatives from India to the UAE and celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding. The projected proceeds of crime in the case are about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the agency.

In November last year, just before the first phase of the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, the ED had claimed that a forensic analysis and the statement of Asim Das had led to "startling allegations" that the Mahadev betting app promoters had paid about Rs 508 crore to Bhupesh Baghel.

Baghel had called these charges an attempt to "malign" his image, while the Congress described the development as a result of “vendetta politics” of the BJP-led Centre. 

Chandrakar and Uppal hail from Bhilai town in Chhattisgarh. The Mahadev online betting app is an umbrella syndicate that arranges online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites. 

(With inputs from PTI)