NEW DELHI: Sourabh Chandrakar, founder of the Rs 6,000-crore Mahadev online betting syndicate and a declared fugitive, has been arrested in Oman after allegedly entering the country on a forged Indonesian passport, officials said on Wednesday. India has sought his extradition.
Chandrakar, who is in his 30s, was detained by the Royal Oman Police several weeks ago based on an Interpol Red Notice issued at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Chhattisgarh Police, officials said.
He is currently lodged at Muscat's Al Khoud detention centre. Oman has also registered a separate criminal case against him over the alleged use of a forged passport and illegal entry into the country.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week sent a formal extradition request to the Omani authorities through the Ministry of External Affairs, along with a judicial dossier translated into Arabic as required under Omani law, officials said.
A joint CBI-ED team is expected to travel to Muscat once an Omani court clears the extradition request.
Earlier, Chandrakar was detained by UAE authorities in Dubai in 2024 on an Interpol Red Notice, but was released after India's extradition request was not accepted.
Officials said his plea to have the Red Notice withdrawn was later rejected by Interpol's Commission for the Control of Files, which held that the case pertained to financial crime and not political persecution.
According to the ED, the Mahadev syndicate operated thousands of online betting "panels" across India through platforms such as Tiger Exchange, Gold365 and Laser247, allegedly generating hundreds of crores of rupees every day while implicating senior Chhattisgarh politicians and bureaucrats.
The agency has so far arrested 13 people and named 74 entities as accused in five charge sheets filed before a special court in Raipur.
In March, the ED said it had attached assets worth Rs 1,700 crore linked to Chandrakar, mostly in Dubai, including holdings in the Burj Khalifa.
Co-founder Ravi Uppal, who allegedly ran the network with Chandrakar from Dubai after the duo fled India in 2019, is reported to have relocated to Vanuatu after UAE authorities closed extradition proceedings against him.