Mahadev betting app kingpin traced to Oman, extradition efforts ongoing: ED counsel
Amid reports that Saurabh Chandrakar — the kingpin in the alleged Mahadev Online Book betting app scam pegged at ₹6,000 crore — has been traced
Amid reports that Saurabh Chandrakar — the kingpin in the alleged Mahadev Online Book betting app scam pegged at ₹6,000 crore — has been traced to Oman, investigating agencies have written to the authorities concerned for his extradition, Directorate of Enforcement (ED) counsel Saurabh Kumar Pande told The Hindu on Thursday (July 9, 2026). Chandrakar, who hails from Bhilai, had launched the betting platform in 2018 along with his aide Ravi Uppal, both of whom are absconding. Indian authorities had tried to get Mr. Chandrakar extradited in 2024 as well, when he was said to be in Dubai. “It was in mid-June that we learnt that Chandrakar had escaped to Oman from Dubai and we approached a court to get a warrant issued.
Once the warrant was issued, we submitted all the extradition papers to the Indian Consul General to submit it to the Oman Embassy for further action,” said Mr. Pande, adding that two years ago, the same exercise had been done for Dubai. Additional charge sheets In a related development, the Central Bureau of Investigation that is probing the Mahadev app-related corruption case, said on Thursday that it has filed a charge sheet against six accused and also filed additional evidence against “the main kingpins Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal and others who were charge sheeted earlier”. The six accused named by the CBI in its press statement are Ashim Das, Rohit Gulati, Vikas Chhaparia, Anil Dhammani, Vishal Ahuja, and Dheeraj Ahuja.
They face charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and offences of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy under Indian Penal Code, 1860. In another Mahadev app case, in which the CBI is probing offences under the IPC and the Chhattisgarh Gambling Prohibition Act, it has filed five charge sheets against 66 accused people, including Mr. Chandrakar, Mr. Uppal and members of the alleged betting syndicate panels through whom the proceeds of crime were channelled. ‘Political and bureaucratic patronage’ The Mahadev app is one of the largest illegal betting syndicates unearthed in the country, run from outside Indian soil, the CBI statement said. Chandrakar and Mr. Uppal built it into a nationwide network reaching millions of users through social media platforms, it added.
“Investigation has established that the syndicate operated illegal betting panels across the country, enrolling users and running games and betting markets, generating illegal profits which were then laundered through a web of mule accounts and finally transferred the funds abroad. Part of the proceeds of crime were paid as protection money to public servants,” a CBI official said. Further investigation is continuing to unearth the full spread of this syndicate as well as “its political and bureaucratic patronage and to bring all other accused persons involved to justice”, the official added.
The BriefWire