In connection with the money laundering investigation into the Mahadev online betting and gaming app case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two additional individuals, as reported by officials on Saturday.
Nitin Tibrewal and Amit Agrawal were apprehended under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and presented before a special court in Raipur on Friday, where the ED lawyer Saurabh Pandey confirmed that they have been remanded to ED custody until January 17.
Tibrewal, identified as a “close associate” of accused Vikash Chapparia in the case, is alleged to have acquired undisclosed properties in Dubai and holds a significant stake in an FPI company alongside Chapparia. ED sources suspect that these assets were obtained using the proceeds of crime derived from the profits of the Mahadev app.
Amit Agrawal, a relative of another accused, Anil Kumar Agrawal, is alleged to have received funds from the Mahadev app and, along with Anil Dammani, another accused, participated in the purchase of multiple properties. Last year, the ED attached two immovable assets in Dubai—a flat and a plot—worth Rs 99.46 crore belonging to Chhapparia and Anil Agrawal. Earlier arrests in the case included alleged cash courier Asim Das, police constable Bheem Singh Yadav, ASI Chandrabhushan Verma, hawala operators Anil and Sunil Dammani, and a man identified as Satish Chandrakar.
The ED contends that illegal funds from the app were used for bribing politicians and bureaucrats in the state. Numerous celebrities and Bollywood actors have been summoned by the agency for questioning regarding their connections with the online betting platform and the payment methods involved.
The ED has filed two charge sheets in the case, naming the two main promoters of the alleged illegal betting and gaming app—Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal—among others. Recently detained in Dubai based on an Interpol red notice, efforts are underway to have them deported or extradited from the UAE to India. In the initial charge sheet, the ED alleged that Chandrakar spent about Rs 200 crore in cash for his wedding in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, in February 2023.
The agency claimed private jets were hired to transport Chandrakar’s relatives from India to the UAE, and celebrities were paid to perform at the wedding. The projected proceeds of crime in this case amount to about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED. In November, just before the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly polls, the ED claimed that forensic analysis and the statement of Asim Das led to “startling allegations” that Mahadev betting app promoters paid approximately Rs 508 crore to former Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel.
Baghel dismissed these charges as an attempt to “malign” his image, while the Congress termed it “vendetta politics” by the Centre against him. Chandrakar and Uppal, both from Bhilai town in Chhattisgarh, are associated with the Mahadev online betting app, which functions as an umbrella syndicate facilitating online platforms for illegal betting websites.