As Mahadev syndicate kingpin returns to India, a look back at the ₹6,000-crore betting racket

Sourabh Chandrakar was brought back to India from Oman on Sunday in connection with the alleged ₹6,000-crore Mahadev online betting racket. Officials described the extradition as one of the biggest recent successes for Indian investigation agencies. Chandrakar is identified as the case’s mastermind and was detained in Muscat earlier in June.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate had aggressively pursued his return. His alleged operation was run remotely from Dubai, while panel partners handled betting, banking, advertising, hawala and laundering risks in India. The agencies now have access to a central accused in the case.

The investigation is continuing. After Chandrakar’s return, agencies began pressing UAE authorities to extradite Ravi Uppal, the app’s co-founder, from Dubai. ED has filed six charge sheets against 116 people, while 14 people have been arrested. CBI is investigating two related cases and has filed a charge sheet.

Mahadev Online Book, or MOB, was an illegal online betting operation that the Enforcement Directorate said began in 2019-20. It continued operating across India despite bans on multiple platforms and apps linked to the racket. The operation matters because it allegedly connected a large user base to a remotely controlled betting network.

People could place bets on poker and other card-based games. They could also bet on cricket, badminton, tennis and football matches. The operation even accepted bets on election outcomes. Its user base grew sharply during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and continued expanding afterward.

Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal allegedly controlled MOB from a head office in Dubai. They outsourced risky Indian activities to panel partners for a share of profits. Those activities included managing bank accounts, operating local offices, advertising, hawala and laundering. The promoters retained control over software, customers and money.

The alleged operation was vast. ED identified at least 3,200 betting panels across India and the UAE. The main UAE call centre had around 1,000 WhatsApp operators. Dubai-based promoters also employed about 3,500 workers, mostly young people from Bhilai and nearby districts of Chhattisgarh.

The panel network generated an estimated ₹950 crore each month. ED said 70% to 80% of a panel’s profit was shared with the Dubai head office. It estimated proceeds linked to MOB and related platforms at around ₹94,000 crore. Between ₹4,000 crore and ₹5,000 crore had already been remitted to the promoters.

These figures show why agencies describe the case as a major financial investigation rather than a small betting scheme. The operation used 20 Dubai villas to house staff. Its size also created a broad trail of panel operators, call-centre workers, payments and alleged money transfers for investigators to examine.

MOB sold betting panels to individuals in a structure ED compared with franchises and multi-level marketing. Each panel had an owner and usually four workers. A person could own several panels, but each required a ₹15 lakh earnest-money deposit. This arrangement spread the operation across many local units.

Panel operators handled daily work and risks. They chatted with players, collected bets and paid winnings. They also dealt with local operations that the promoters did not want to manage directly. The structure became pyramid-like because many panel operators fed money and profits upward to the central head office.

ED said 70% to 80% of a panel’s profit was shared with the Dubai head office. The promoters therefore kept central control while distributing local responsibilities. This model helped the alleged network expand across India and the UAE through numerous operators rather than one visible office.

Indian agencies are seeking Ravi Uppal’s extradition because he is identified as Mahadev Online Book’s co-founder and one of the people who allegedly controlled the operation. Uppal settled in the UAE with Chandrakar and others in 2019. The promoters then ran MOB remotely from a Dubai head office.

Bringing Uppal before Indian investigators could help them examine the operation’s central leadership alongside Chandrakar. Investigators are examining how the promoters controlled software, customers and money while panel partners handled local risks. They are also tracing alleged banking, hawala, advertising and laundering arrangements connected to the network.

The case already includes six ED charge sheets against 116 people and 14 arrests. CBI is probing two related cases and has filed a charge sheet. Uppal’s extradition would therefore add another alleged central operator to an active investigation, while authorities continue pursuing the network’s financial and organisational links.

The Enforcement Directorate investigated MOB’s alleged financial and organisational structure. Its probe estimated the operation’s scale, identified panels and workers, and traced alleged proceeds and remittances. ED has filed six charge sheets against 116 people and reported that 14 people were arrested in the case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is handling two cases related to MOB and has already filed a charge sheet. It also pursued Chandrakar’s extradition with ED. The investigation has further raised alleged links to politicians and bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh. The article reports that former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel was named as an accused in a CBI FIR.

These agencies are examining both the betting network and its financial flows. Their actions have produced arrests, charge sheets and extradition efforts. The reported political connections add another dimension to the case, but the article presents them as allegations under investigation rather than established findings.

Hawala is an informal system for transferring value through networks of intermediaries rather than ordinary bank transfers. A benami account is held or used in someone else’s name, hiding the person who actually controls the money. Money laundering means disguising proceeds from crime so they appear to come from legitimate activity.

These tools can separate an illegal business from its money trail. A business may collect funds through accounts that do not show the real owner, move value through intermediaries, and send proceeds through transactions designed to conceal their origin. The article says MOB outsourced benami bank accounts, hawala and laundering to panel partners.

That arrangement allegedly allowed the promoters to keep control from Dubai while partners handled risky activities in India. Investigators therefore examine account ownership, transfers, panel payments and remittances. In this case, ED estimated ₹4,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore had already been remitted to the promoters, making financial tracing central to the probe.