The Mumbai Police have filed a case against the creators of the Mahadev betting app, namely Saurabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal, and Shubham Soni, along with 29 additional individuals, in connection with allegations of engaging in illegal gambling and cyber fraud totaling Rs 15,000 crore. The police initiated this legal action on Tuesday following the directive of a magistrate court to do so.
Furthermore, the police have invoked sections related to cyber terrorism in this case. It is anticipated that the investigations into this matter will be handed over to the police's Economic Offences Wing. The promoters of the Mahadev app, originally hailing from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, had previously made a statement claiming that they had contributed more than Rs 500 crore to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
In this case, the FIR has been registered under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 120 (B) of IPC and sections 66 (C), 66 (F) of the IT Act. The Section 66 (F) of IT that the police have imposed in this case means “Punishment for Cyber Terrorism”. This section is imposed in very few cases and especially in such cases in which the integrity, unity and Security of India are at stake.
On November 5, the Central government issued orders to block 22 illegal betting platforms, which included the Mahadev app and Reddyannaprestopro, based on a request from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), according to an official statement. This decision to ban these 22 illegal betting platforms was taken in response to the investigations carried out by the ED into an illegal betting app syndicate, which led to subsequent raids on Mahadev Book in Chhattisgarh, uncovering the app's illicit operations.