Mahadev Gaming app is a online betting platform that lets users gamble on various live games such as Poker, card games, chance games, badminton, tennis, football and cricket.
Mahadev Gaming app functions as an online betting platform, allowing users to engage in gambling activities on live games such as poker, card games, games of chance, badminton, tennis, football, and cricket. Additionally, it offers a diverse selection of card games, including Teen Patti, poker, Dragon Tiger, and virtual cricket games. The app operates through a network of closed groups on various instant messaging platforms and reportedly generates an astounding ₹200 crore in daily revenue.
OPERATING PROCEDURE
The app advertises contact numbers on websites, enticing individuals to participate and potentially make profits. These contact numbers are exclusively accessible through platforms like WhatsApp. When a user contacts the provided number, they receive two separate contact numbers. One is for depositing money and obtaining points in user IDs used for betting, while the other is for reaching out to the website to cash out the points accrued in the assigned IDs.
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE BEHIND IT?
The company is owned by Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, who allegedly provide online platforms for illegal betting in different live games including cricket, tennis, badminton, poker and card games. These have been active for the last four years.
The company owners are from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh and the Mahadev online book betting application is a part of a syndicate that arranges online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites. Chandrakar’s company is said to have made around Rs 5,000 crore through the scam. Owners of the Mahadev online betting app are believed to have links in Pakistan as well as connections with local businessmen and hawala operations.
WHAT DOES ED PROBE REVEAL?
An investigation into 28-year-old Sourabh Chandrakar was triggered by his extravagant Rs 250-crore wedding in the UAE, after which investigators discovered the details of alleged hawala operations and their ties in the UAE and Pakistan. The ED has combined at least seven FIRs filed by the victims of the scam who lost their money. The FIRs were filed across locations, including Goa, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Chhattisgarh.
Around eight major international hawala operators are under scrutiny for laundering money to Middle Eastern countries and to Pakistan by running a similar portal. Chandrakar and his associates allegedly used at least 70 shell companies to launder money to offshore accounts. The anti-money laundering agency is now looking for options to seek cooperation from international agencies to take legal action against the app owner, who is currently in the UAE.
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WHY ARE BOLLYWOOD STARS UNDER RADAR?
Several Bollywood stars, who attended or performed at Chandrakar’s wedding in February this year and the company’s success party in September last year, are under the ED scanner. Media reports claim that these stars allegedly accepted a huge amount of cash as payment for attending or performing at the wedding. The money is the proceeds of the crime and the stars are liable for taking the money.
The ED has already raided several premises related to hawala operators across cities in India and attached Rs 417 crore. During a recent raid in Mumbai, the ED also tracked seven hawala kingpins who allegedly laundered the money.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken a big action in the Mahadev betting scam case. ED has issued a summons to actor Ranbir Kapoor for questioning. Mahadev Satta App is an online platform that allows users to place bets on various games and events. The Enforcement Directorate has summoned actors Kapil Sharma, Huma Qureshi, Hina Khan in connection with the Mahadev betting app case. The development came less than a day after fellow actor Ranbir Kapoor was asked to appear before the probe agency for questioning on October 6.
The online betting platform came under scrutiny in February this year following a lavish ₹200 crore wedding that saw celebrity performances in UAE. Chandrakar’s wedding in Ras Al-Khaimah – paid for entirely in cash – had caught the ED’s eye earlier this year. The ED believes he hired private jets to ferry family members from Nagpur to the UAE and paid celebrities to perform at the venue. Wedding planners, dancers, decorators and more were hired from Mumbai with hawala channels being used to make payments in cash.
The ED has conducted raids at 39 locations and seized illegal assets worth ₹417 crore in connection with the case. A PMLA special court at Raipur had also issued non-bailable warrants against the suspects.
How many Actors/Actress are in ED’s Radar?
Aside from Ranbir, Tiger Shroff, Sunny Leone, Neha Kakkar, Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Asgar, Vishal Dadlani, Elli AvrRam, Bharti Singh, Bhagyashree, Kriti Kharbanda, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Krushna Abhishek, and Sukhwinder Singh are also on the ED’s radar.