The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Friday (November 13, 2026) said it has arrested Saurabh Chandrakar, co-owner and promoter of the Mahadev Online Book illegal betting syndicate, and would now be confronting with the evidence of money laundering against him.
Earlier on Thursday (November 12, 2026), a special CBI court remanded Chandrakar to seven days’ judicial custody and dismissed ED’s application to execute their non-bailable warrant against him. On Friday (November 13, 2026) post the arrest, the ED produced him at a special PMLA [Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002] court in Raipur which remanded him to ED custody for seven days till November 19 for further investigation.
“In ED custody, Saurabh Chandrakar will be confronted with the statements of his associates, digital data and documents concerning his foreign entities and evidence of commission of offence of money laundering,” an ED official said.
According to the ED, Chandrakar and another co-promoter Ravi Uppal operated “Mahadev Online Book” (various online betting websites) from Head Office in Dubai through a franchise of “betting panels” across India and the United Arab Emirates.
A statement further noted that player money went through bank accounts held in other people’s names and left India through hawala. ED’s main complaint of October 2023 estimated the syndicate’s earnings at about ₹450 crore a month.
“Saurabh Chandrakar did not answer the summons issued to him by ED in September 2023 and continued to evade investigation by law enforcement agencies. On ED’s application, the Special Court issued a Non-Bailable Warrant against him on 04.09.2023, and shortly thereafter, INTERPOL also published a Red Notice against him on ED’s request. His challenge to the warrant was dismissed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh on 22.03.2025. He obtained a passport of Vanuatu while holding an Indian passport, and even claimed before the Special Court that he had given up Indian citizenship on 28.06.2022,” the official said.
On the progress of the investigations into money laundering allegations, the official said that the ED had thus far searched about 190 premises, seized or frozen about ₹2,000 crore and attached property now valued at about ₹3,500 crore, about ₹1,800 crore of it abroad, including 22 immovable properties in Dubai. It has filed six prosecution complaints against 116 accused. Saurabh Chandrakar is the fifteenth person arrested by ED in this case, the ED statement noted.
The agency purportedly followed the money from panel operators through the Dubai Head Office to hawala handlers and share-market investors. “It froze securities of about ₹236 crore held by Dubai companies in September 2023. In July 2026 ED arrested Vikas Garg, whose companies received about ₹940 crore of betting proceeds, of which about ₹766 crore went into the acquisition of the United States company Ebix Inc. ED has attached about ₹941 crore in that limb,” the official said.
The ED statement also mentioned Chandrakar’s lavish wedding in UAE in the year 2023. “The wedding at Ras Al Khaimah in February 2023 cost about ₹200 crore in cash, with three chartered aircraft from Nagpur. ED traced that money through the event company, hotels and angadia firms, and the guest list it recovered identified the management of the syndicate,” the official added.
Published – November 14, 2026 05:26 am IST
