Chhattisgarh govt considers handing over Mahadev betting app cases to CBI

Raipur, Aug 21 (PTI) Chhattisgarh deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma on Wednesday said the state government was considering transfer of the cases lodged in connection with the Mahadev betting app `scam' to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

About 70 cases related to the alleged scam have been registered with the state Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and various police stations.

More information regarding this would be shared in the next few days, said Sharma who also holds the Home portfolio.

Official sources said the issue of handing over the cases to the CBI could be discussed with Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his three-day visit to Chhattisgarh from August 23.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already been probing money laundering cases linked to the Mahadev app, which came to light during the previous Congress government in the state, for more than a year.

After the BJP came to power in the state, the EOW registered an FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 120b (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and the Prevention of Corruption Act in March, based on a report submitted to it by the ED.

Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, promoters of the app Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar, Shubham Soni and Anil Kumar Agrawal, and 14 others were named as accused in the EOW's FIR. Baghel called the FIR "politically motivated." The ED has alleged that its probe revealed involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh. Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, notably, hail from Chhattisgarh.

The app was an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs and launder money through a layered web of `benami' bank accounts, it claimed.

The ED has arrested a total of 11 persons in the case till now. The projected proceeds of crime are about Rs 6,000 crore, the central agency has said. PTI TKP KRK