ED files fresh chargesheet in Mahadev app case

| | RAIPUR/NEW DELHI
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ED files fresh chargesheet in Mahadev app case

Saturday, 06 January 2024 | Staff Reporter | RAIPUR/NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a fresh chargesheet before a special court in Raipur in a money laundering case investigation linked to alleged illegal betting and gaming through the Mahadev online app, the prosecution said on Friday.

The federal agency will share the second prosecution complaint (chargesheet) with authorities in Dubai to secure the deportation or extradition of the two main promoters of the app -- Ravi Uppal and Sourabh Chandrakar.

The two were recently detained in Dubai on the basis of an Interpol Red notice issued against them at the behest of the ED.

The agency is understood to have shared the contents of the first chargesheet with the UAE authorities, on the basis of which a non-bailable warrant was secured against the two.

The some 1,700-page fresh chargesheet was filed on January 1 and five accused, including alleged cash courier Asim Das, police constable Bheem Singh Yadav, and Shubham Soni, a prominent executive linked to the app, among others have been named as accused.

The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court is expected to take cognisance of the charge sheet on January 10.

Das and Yadav were arrested by the agency in November, just before the first phase of polling for the Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh.

Soni, who had claimed to be the owner of the app, earlier issued a video statement and sent an affidavit to the ED claiming to have "proof" about kickbacks paid to politicians and their links for allowing the app to run any legal action.

The agency, in its first chargesheet filed before the special PMLA court in Raipur, had named Chandrakar and Uppal along with some others.

The ED alleged in the first chargesheet that Chandrakar got married at Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE in February 2023 and about Rs 200 crore was spent on the event in which private jets were hired to ferry his relatives from India to the UAE and celebrities were paid to perform.

The agency earlier said that the alleged illegal funds generated by the app were shared as bribes with politicians and bureaucrats in the state. The ED has summoned many celebrities and Bollywood actors for questioning.

The projected proceeds of crime in this case is about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED.

The agency had claimed in November that forensic analysis and statement made by Asim Das have led to "startling allegations" that Mahadev promoters paid Rs 508 crore to then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel but added that these allegations were subject to investigation.

Baghel had called the charges an attempt to malign his image while the Congress called its "vendetta politics" of the Centre.

Das had later submitted before the special court in Raipur that he had been framed as part of a conspiracy and he had never delivered cash to politicians.

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