With just four days to go for the first phase of the Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has recorded a statement of a “cash courier” who alleged that the promoters of the Mahadev betting app have paid Rs 508 crore to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel till now, news agency PTI reported.
The courier, Asim Das, has been arrested by the agency after it recovered Rs 5.39 crore from him in the poll-bound state. The Mahadev online betting app and its promoters are being investigated by the ED under the anti-money laundering law.
“From the questioning of Asim Das, and from the forensic examination of the phone recovered from him, and examination of an email sent by Shubam Soni (one of the high ranking accused of Mahadev network) many startling allegations have come forth, namely, that regular payments have been made in the past and so far around Rs 508 crore have been paid by Mahadev APP promoters to Bhupesh Baghel, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh,” the ED said in a statement.
“These are subject matter of investigation,” it added.
According to the ED, Mahadev Online Book provides online platforms for illegal betting in different live games such as poker and other card games, chance games, cricket, badminton, tennis, football and others, even providing an avenue to bet on different elections in India. It also provides a facility to play several card games such as ‘Teen Patti’, poker, ‘Dragon Tiger’, virtual cricket games, and more.
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Its main promoters, originally from Chhattisgarh, are based out of Dubai, and may have amassed as much as Rs 5,000 crores through the platform.
As per police sources, the app began its operations in 2017, but its reach among users saw a huge increase during the pandemic in 2020, continuing to go up till 2022.
In August, the ED arrested four accused — businessmen brothers Sunil and Anil Dammani, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Chandra Bhushan Verma, and Satish Chandrakar. All four accused are based out of Raipur. As per the ED, those arrested helped the movement of illegal funds through hawala networks, or were involved in protecting the racket from police action.
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First published on: 03-11-2023 at 19:57 IST
