Sourabh Chandrakar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sourabh Chandrakar

• Sourabh Chandrakar is the kingpin and promoter of the Mahadev Online Book App. Chandrakar and his partner Ravi Uppal made headlines in 2023 when the Mahadev app was probed by the Enforcement Department for alleged money laundering charges.

• Chandrakar and Uppal had humble beginnings and used to be small business owners in Chhattisgarh. In the beginning, Chandrakar used to work as a salesman at a clothing store in Bhilai, where he earned around Rs 10,000 a month. In an interview, one of Chandrakar’s acquaintances named Rakesh talked about Chandrakar and said,
  

  His father used to work in Nagar Nigam. You can imagine the financial status of the family. He was as average as it can get. Nobody, not even he, would have imagined this kind of money coming his way.”

• In 2016, Chandrakar was running his brother’s juice shop called ‘Juice Factory’ in Nehru Nagar, Bhilai. Reportedly, he would steal money from the juice shop for gambling purposes.
  

  

  Meanwhile, Uppal owned a tyre shop. ^[2]Hindustan TimesChandrakar used to spend a lot of time hanging out at Sooraj Mobile at the Akashganga complex in Bhilai. Sooraj Mobile’s owner Mahesh talked about Chandrakar in an interview and said,

  My mobile shop earlier used to be down this road, right next to where he (Chandrakar) used to sit. For 8-9 months, we would interact daily till the lockdown when his Mahadev App IDs started selling like hot cakes.”

• An avid cricket lover, Chandrakar’s journey into the world of betting began with the sport. Reportedly, Uppal came from a well-off family in Bhilai. He used to take contracts for installing borewells and also ran an oil-related business. Uppal had been gambling for more than ten years before becoming a promoter of the Mahadev Online Book App. Uppal had moved out of Bhilai many years ago, but whenever he went back, he would meet his friends at a paan stall in the Akash Ganga market. Most of them were local gamblers. At the Akash Ganga market, Chandrakar and Uppal bonded over tea and cricket scores. Soon, they started working as local bookies, targeting people in their local area.  ^[3]The Indian Express

  

• Around 2019-2020, Uppal and Chandrakar moved to Dubai, where they founded the Mahadev app. The app is an umbrella syndicate that provides an online platform for illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs, and engage in money laundering through a complex network of Benami bank accounts. Users bet in a range of activities ranging from election results to games such as poker, card games and cricket. The COVID-19 pandemic gave Chandrakar and Uppal a chance to grow their racket. The duo took advantage of the lockdown, during which people were forced to work from home or were idle, to hire operators and agents to get customers.

• While Chandrakar and Uppal oversaw activities from Dubai, the person representing the app in Bhilai was Raja Gupta, also known as Raj. Raj, who dropped out of school, used to work as a salesman in a clothing store at Akash Ganga market, earning a monthly salary of Rs 1,600 until 2016. Later, he got involved in betting on cricket while working at a mobile shop. During his rounds to collect payments for mobile chargers and headphones, he convinced traders in the market to place bets. Raj’s life took a significant turn when he partnered with Chandrakar. He purchased an i20 car, and an iPhone, adorned himself with gold and silver jewellery, and projected a lavish image on social media, leading many to believe he was the owner of the betting app. Reportedly, Raj was last seen in Bhilai in 2021. According to sources from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the police, Raj’s alleged role involved recruiting young individuals from Chhattisgarh and taking them to Dubai, where they sold customer login IDs to operators for substantial sums. While Chandrakar and Uppal claimed the majority of the profits, individuals like Raj earned around 20 percent.

• The police stated that, like Raj, several other young people in Bhilai collaborated with Chandrakar and Uppal, and their fortunes dramatically changed overnight. Many of these 150 or so youngsters, hailing from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, were brought to Dubai for training in various behind-the-scenes operations, including issuing IDs to potential customers and managing the money flow. ^[4]The Indian Express While many stayed in Dubai, others were sent back to India to handle operations there. One of those youngsters during an interview said,
  

  I desperately wanted money to repay my debts so I went to Dubai in December 2021. There were around 70 of us from Chhattisgarh and we stayed in a villa in Dubai for six months. I was paid Rs 40,000 a month, of which I sent Rs 10,000 to my family. They paid for our food and stay, and we got to roam around Dubai.”

• The racket flourished and quickly expanded its influence into countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. They established a network of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 panel operators across India who helped users create accounts on the app, place bets, and manage financial transactions. They also offered panels or branches to their trusted associates, sharing profits on a 70-30 ratio. ^[5]The Economic Times It was discovered that the panel operators used to earn between Rs 40 to 50 lakh per month. Large-scale hawala operations were conducted to divert the betting proceeds to offshore accounts. The app was promoted through advertisements and endorsements by celebrities such as Huma Qureshi and Hina Khan.

• Over time, the duo became dominant in India’s illegal offshore gambling scene and acquired brands like FairPlay, Reddy Anna, and Lotus365. They even introduced new brands with names like ‘Betbhai’ and ‘Ambani Book.’

• In 2023, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) uncovered that Chandrakar and Uppal had ties to the D-company, an organized criminal syndicate established and overseen by the Indian gangster and drug kingpin, Dawood Ibrahim. It was reported that, following the success of the Mahadev Book app, Chandrakar made contact with influential individuals in the UAE who had close connections to Mushtaqeem Ibrahim Kaskar, Dawood Ibrahim’s brother. Impressed by the substantial profits earned from the betting app, Kaskar approached the duo with a request to create a similar betting application for Pakistan. In 2021, Chandrakar introduced a betting app called ‘Kheloyar’ in Pakistan, with the backing of Dawood Ibrahim and support from the ISI. This app is also operated in India. Several Bollywood celebrities, including Govinda, Randeep Hooda, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Daisy Shah, Rashmi Desai, and Shefali Jariwala, endorsed the app by sharing video clips.
  

  

  The Kheloyar gaming application was a sponsor for the Lanka Premier League (LPL), which is Sri Lanka’s T20 cricket competition in July 2023. Sources also mentioned that Kaskar had presented Chandrakar and Uppal with a villa located in Saudi Arabia as a gift.

• The Mahadev app initially drew the attention of the Chhattisgarh Police when a frequent user of the platform took his own life in the Durg district, and it was discovered that he had been involved in online betting. Subsequently, the spotlight turned to a major scandal during Chandrakar’s extravagant wedding in the UAE in February 2023.

• As per the findings of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), private jets were hired to bring family members from Nagpur to the UAE for the wedding. Celebrities were hired to give performances. Wedding organizers, dancers, and decorators were sourced from Mumbai, and under-the-table financial transactions were made in cash. The ED also uncovered digital evidence that amounted to a total of Rs 112 crore in cash transactions.

• Their excessive spending not only caught the attention of intelligence agencies but also drew the interest of criminals. It’s been said that a gangster named Lawrence Bishnoi used an illegally obtained mobile phone in his prison cell in Tihar Jail to extort money from Chandrakar. Bishnoi asked for protection money, but Chandrakar refused and warned him, citing his own connections in the criminal world. The police believe that Chandrakar may be receiving protection from the Dawood Ibrahim gang. ^[6]The Times of India

• Various Bollywood celebrities came under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) either due to their participation in Chandrakar’s wedding or their endorsement of the controversial app.

•  In 2023, the ED named fourteen individuals as accused in their chargesheet, including the promoters of the online betting app, Chandrakar, and Uppal. This chargesheet was submitted to a special PMLA court in Raipur. Following these developments, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court in Raipur issued non-bailable warrants and lookout circulars for Chandrakar and Uppal. According to the investigative agency, the illicit gains from this criminal activity could amount to approximately Rs 6,000 crores.

• During the investigation, it was found that Chandrakar obtained a Vanuatu passport in 2022. Chandrakar and Uppal obtained the citizenship of Vanuatu, an Oceania country, to evade law enforcement agencies. Reportedly, they also applied for an Australian residency visa.

  

• In February 2024, the Chhattisgarh Police set a reward of Rs. 35,000 for any information leading to Sourabh Chandrakar, combining Rs. 25,000 offered by the Durg IG and Rs. 10,000 by the SP. ^[7]News 18

• On 11 October 2024, after a Red Corner Notice was issued by Interpol against Sourabh, he was taken into custody by the authorities in Dubai to be extradited to India to stand trial.