Mahadev betting app owner Ravi Uppal held in Dubai

Ravi Uppal, one of the primary owners of the Mahadev online betting app, has been arrested in Dubai by local police based on a red notice issued by Interpol at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The 43-year-old Uppal was apprehended last week in Dubai, and the ED is currently coordinating with Dubai authorities to facilitate his deportation to India.

Uppal is under investigation by the ED in a money laundering case connected to alleged illegal betting, in addition to being pursued by the Chhattisgarh Police and Mumbai Police. The ED had previously 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, in October.

Following the ED's request, Interpol issued a red notice. The ED informed the court in the charge sheet that Uppal had acquired a passport from Vanuatu, an island country in the Pacific Ocean, despite not renouncing Indian citizenship. According to the ED's prosecution complaint, Uppal "generated and enjoyed proceeds of crime and is involved in their concealment and layering." The projected proceeds of crime in this case amount to about Rs 6,000 crore, as per the ED.

In November, the ED had asserted that Mahadev betting app promoters paid approximately Rs 508 crore to former Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, just before the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls. The agency claimed that forensic analysis and a statement from a 'cash courier' named Asim Das led to "startling allegations." However, Das later testified before the special court in Raipur, asserting that he had been framed as part of a conspiracy and had never delivered cash to politicians.

The ED's investigation revealed that Mahadev Online Book App operates from a central head office in the UAE, using a franchising model for "Panel/Branches" on a 70-30 profit ratio with associates. Large-scale hawala operations are conducted to divert betting proceeds to offshore accounts, and substantial cash expenditures are made in India for advertising betting websites, attracting new users and franchise seekers, according to ED statements. The promoters of the company hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, and the Mahadev online book betting application functions as an umbrella syndicate facilitating illegal betting websites.