Mahadev online betting app case’s main accused Saurabh Chandrakar being taken to a court after a special CBI court granted the agency eight-day custody of him, in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Wednesday, November 4, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A Special CBI court here on Wednesday (November 4, 2026 remanded Sourabh Chandrakar, the alleged kingpin of the ₹6,000-crore Mahadev online betting app scam, to Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) custody for eight days.
The development follows the recent extradition of Chandrakar from Oman to Delhi, after which he was brought to Raipur on a private flight on Tuesday (November 3, 2026) evening.
Defence lawyer Tushar Giri told journalists that the CBI sought Chandrakar’s custody for 10 days, while the court granted eight days’ custody of the accused to the central probe agency. The court also allowed the CBI to take the accused to Delhi for questioning, the counsel added.
He said that both the defence and the CBI had applied for the interrogation to be done in Delhi, which was accepted by the court. He said that the defence put forth the argument that, according to extradition laws, international conventions and bilateral treaties, he can only be tried or punished or pursued in the case for which the extradition was carried out. “And that is a PMLA [Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), probed by the Directorate of Enforcement],” he said.
Earlier, when the CBI had applied for a transit remand in Delhi, the Defence had made a similar argument, submitting that the very approach of the CBI was against the doctrine of speciality, which stands enshrined in Section 21 of the Extradition Act and that CBI cannot replace ED for the purpose of remand.
The CBI, in its argument, referred to a warrant issued against Chandrakar by the same Special CBI court and informed the court that he had been arrested and that the central probe agency needed his remand for interrogation. The CBI appealed for Chandrakar to be taken to Delhi citing security concerns in Raipur which too was granted.
CBI took over the probe in 2024 when cases related to the alleged Mahadev app scam were handed over to it, while the ED has been probing the money laundering linked to the cases. The investigation purportedly revealed that the MOB was one of the largest illegal online betting syndicates in the country, run from outside India.
It offered illegal betting on cricket, football, card games and other events through a network of franchised “panels” and “branches” spread across India, which enrolled users and collected stakes from them.
Published – November 04, 2026 06:33 pm IST
