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3 min readRaipurJul 9, 2026 05:55 PM IST
Saurabh Chandrakar, the alleged kingpin in the Mahadev app gambling case. (File photo)
After he was recently traced to Oman, authorities in India are seeking to extradite Saurabh Chandrakar, accused in the Rs 6,000-crore Mahadev Online Book betting app case.
In March this year, ED attached assets worth Rs 1,700 crore in connection with the case against him. The assets included luxury villas and high-end apartments in some of Dubai’s most premium locations, including in the Burj Khalifa.
In 2023, his lavish Rs 200-crore wedding in Dubai, for which his family members arrived in private jets and the guest list included Bollywood celebrities, had made news in India.
Since 2023, the Indian authorities have been trying to nab him. Recently, the ED learnt that he was in Oman and the agency is now trying to extradite him.
ED counsel Saurabh Kumar Pandey told The Indian Express, “Last month a warrant of arrest and externment papers for Chandrakar were issued by a special court in Raipur. We have sent the papers to the Consulate General of India to get him extradited from Oman.”
Apart from Chandrakar, other major names associated with the case who are based abroad are Vikas Chapria, Ravi Shankar Dibrewal, Amit Agrawal and Ravi Uppal. “We are trying to get Chandrakar, Uppal and Chapria declared as fugitive economic offenders under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. The application is pending consideration in the Raipur special court,” said Pandey.
Juice centre to betting app
Originally a clothes salesman from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, Chandrakar had also run a juice centre and had teamed up with another key accused in the case, Ravi Uppal, to create the betting platform in 2018, according to officials.
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Apart from an Indian passport, Chandrakar also holds a passport of the Republic of Vanuatu, a country in the South Pacific Ocean, officials said. Sources said Ravi Uppal is believed to be either in Dubai or Vanuatu.
So far, 13 accused have been arrested in the case by the ED. Police sources said the Mahadev Betting App racket is still operational but under different names.
The total value of properties attached, seized or frozen in the case stands at around Rs 4,336 crore. The Raipur Zonal Office of the ED issued a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) on March 24 this year and attached 20 immovable properties, including 18 in Dubai and two in New Delhi.
Immovable assets, worth nearly Rs 1,700 crore, were seized as part of the ED probe into the Mahadev Online Book betting case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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The agency alleged that the properties belong to Chandrakar and are held in the names of entities controlled by him and his associates. The agency alleged that the assets were acquired from proceeds of crime generated through illegal online betting operations linked to the Mahadev platform and other similar applications.
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