On Wednesday (27th December), authorities in Dubai reportedly detained Sourabh Chandrakar, the key accused in the Mahadev betting scam case. Chandrakar has been reportedly put under house arrest.
Another prime accused Ravi Uppal has been put in jail. Agencies are working through diplomatic channels to get the accused deported. Reports quoting sources claim that the ED has been informed of Chandrakar’s location in Dubai.
The Enforcement Directorate may reportedly file a new charge sheet in the case. ED is also expected to file a supplementary charge sheet in the case against two people arrested in November from Chhattisgarh including Asim Das, who allegedly couriered cash, and Bheem Yadav, a police constable.
In its first charge sheet, the ED had named Chandrakar and Uppal along with some others. The agency had quoted the statement of Dilip Chandrakar, uncle of Sourabh Chandrakar. As per the statement, before Sourabh went to Dubai in 2019 and ran a juice shop called ‘juice factory’ along with his brother in Bhillai town of Chhattisgarh.
As per the charge sheet, Sourabh got married in a lavish wedding at Ras Al Khaimah in United Arab Emirates in February 2023. A whopping Rs 200 crore of cash was spent, private jets were hired to get his relatives from India and celebrities were paid to perform.
About a week ago, Ravi Uppal was detained in Dubai on a red notice issued by Interpol at the behest of ED. Another prime suspect, Deepak Nepali was arrested from Chhattisgarh’s Durg district.
Nepali’s arrested was carried out by the Durg Crime Branch and Vaishali Nagar Police. He was reportedly directly involved in procuring fake IDs for the betting racket. Nepali was absconding for a year.
Nepali was caught when he was trying to jump off the terrace. At least 13 criminal cases are registered against him for loot, abduction, illegal betting and petty crimes.
