Two individuals have been arrested in connection with the illicit operation of the Mahadev online gaming and betting application, a case involving senior politicians and state bureaucrats. This information was disclosed by the Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Wednesday.
The ACB/EOW stated that the accused, Rahul Wakde, was located in Delhi, while co-accused Ritesh Yadav was arrested in Goa. The arrests follow a report handed over to the agency by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 4th, signaling the official registration of the case. The ED has been probing the money laundering angle in this scandal for about a year now.
The officials informed that both accused were presented to a Raipur court on Wednesday, where they were remanded to six days of ACB/EOW custody. Additionally, the ED has made separate arrests of nine people in its ongoing investigation.
Last Year's Fugitive Accused
According to the statement, Assistant Sub-Inspector of the state police, Chandra Bhushan Verma, was arrested by the ED in the scam case. Since his arrest, both accused had been absconding since last August. Rahul Wakde was allegedly involved in channeling funds received via the illegal channel of Hawala to Verma. Three companies were registered in Wakde's name, where a significant amount of cash was deposited.
Yadav was purportedly running the operations of the online betting app (Mahadev) panel and was assisting Verma and another individual, Satish Chandrakar, post-receiving funds through Hawala. Additionally, an amount of ₹43 lakhs in Hawala money was seized. Chandrakar was previously arrested by the ED in the prior year on money laundering charges. Yadav managed the Mahadev betting app panel operations out of Pune, Maharashtra.
These Individuals Have Been Named as Accused
The state's ACB conducted raids in Pune with the cooperation of local police, arresting eight people involved in the operation of the betting app panel. The statement mentioned that the Pune police are proceeding further against them. ACB/EOW has named, in their FIR regarding the alleged Mahadev betting app scam, former Congress Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, along with app promoters Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar, Shubham Soni, Anil Kumar Agarwal, and 14 others as accused.
The ACB/EOW had earlier disclosed that a case was registered under IPC sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (fraud), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), and others along with sections 7 and 11 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
