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The Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 4, 2025) directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to trace the whereabouts of Mahadev Online Book (MOB) app co-founder Ravi Uppal, observing that “kingpins” like him treat courts and investigating agencies as “mere instruments” to play with.
A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing Mr. Uppal’s appeal against a March 22, 2025, order of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which had refused to quash a non-bailable warrant issued by a Raipur special court on September 4, 2024. The High Court had held that the investigation revealed his possession of proceeds of crime and therefore found no reason to interfere with the trial court’s order. The Supreme Court had earlier issued notice on his plea on May 23, 2025.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the ED, informed the Bench that Mr. Uppal had fled from Dubai to an unknown location and remained untraceable. “From the United Arab Emirates (UAE), you can be extradited. So, he will now go to a country from where he cannot be extradited. That is my apprehension,” Mr. Raju said.
Taking exception to the development, Justice Sundresh remarked, “We did not think that he was not going to come back... for kingpins like him, the investigating agency and the court are mere instruments to play around.”
The Bench advised Mr. Uppal’s counsel that it would be in his client’s interest to return and face the proceedings. “He cannot run away all the time... he has to come here and participate in the process. We will even consider his bail application at an appropriate stage,” Justice Sundresh observed.
“We will seek instructions. We will also inform the client about what fell from your Lordships”, the counsel assured the Bench.
The Bench, however, cautioned that unless Mr. Uppal returned, his appeal could be dismissed. “We have to do something about this, it shocks our conscience. You find out, otherwise we will dismiss it [the plea],” Justice Sundresh said, adding that the ongoing investigation was being hampered by Mr. Uppal’s continued evasion.
Addressing Mr. Raju, Justice Sundresh further said, “Find out how to secure this person... He is very resourceful. He is flying from place to place, he must be flying in business class or first class.”
Mr. Raju responded that Mr. Uppal may have flown to the British Virgin Islands, which does not have an extradition treaty with India, and assured the Bench that the ED would make all efforts to trace him. The matter was accordingly adjourned for a week.
The MOB app, according to the federal agency, operates as an umbrella syndicate facilitating illegal online betting through multiple platforms. It allegedly enables betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs, and launder large sums of money through a complex network of benami bank accounts.
Mr. Uppal and his associate, Sourabh Chandrakar, are accused of establishing the illegal betting syndicate in 2018 and building a ₹6,000-crore empire that continues to function across India despite multiple government bans on platforms linked to the network.
In one of its charge sheets, the ED has claimed that the “betting empire” was operating nearly 3,200 betting “panels” across different cities and generating approximately ₹240 crore in daily revenue. Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has also been named as an accused in the investigation.
Mr. Uppal was arrested in Dubai in December 2023 following an Interpol Red Notice issued two months earlier. The Enforcement Directorate later sent an extradition request to the UAE on January 16, 2024. He was released within 45 days but continued to remain under surveillance owing to the pending extradition proceedings.
Mr. Chandrakar was arrested in Dubai in October 2024 and placed under house arrest, with an extradition request also sent the same month. The agency has additionally initiated fugitive economic offender proceedings against both men, which are pending before a special court in Raipur.
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