NEW DELHI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths have been carrying out simultaneous raids since Wednesday morning at the residential premises of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and AICC General Secretary Bhupesh Baghel in Bhilai and Raipur, apparently in connection with the multi-crore Mahadev Online App betting ' scam' case.
"The CBI is conducting searches at 60 locations across Chhattisgarh, Bhopal, Kolkata and Delhi including premises linked to politicians, senior bureaucrats, police officers, key functionaries of Mahadev Book and other private individuals suspected of involvement in the case”, said the statement issued by the premier investigating agency.
"The investigations have revealed that the promoters of online betting platform—Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar (both currently based in Dubai) allegedly paid substantial amount as “protection money” to public servants to ensure the smooth uninterrupted functioning of their illegal betting network," the statement added.
“During the ongoing searches, incriminating digital and documentary evidence have been found and seized”, the CBI claimed.
The CBI team is also conducting searches at the residences of three senior IPS officers: Anand Chhabra, Abhishek Pallava, and Arif Sheikh, Congress Bhilai MLA Devendra Yadav, former IAS officer Anil Tuteja, and other officials.
This year on March 4 an FIR was registered by Economic Offence Wing-Anti Corruption Bureau (EOW-ACB) of Chhattisgarh police against Baghel under various sections of Indian Penal Code— 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (acts by several persons serving common intention), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 & 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged records). Baghel has termed it as ‘political FIR’.
“It is not fair to link the CBI action to politics. Who was the chief minister when the scam took place in the state? All cooperation should instead be extended to the CBI, which remains an independent agency”, affirmed Arun Sao, Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister.
On March 10, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had searched the Bhilai-based residence of Baghel in connection with the alleged liquor scam.
After the BJP government returned to power in Chhattisgarh in December 2023, it recommended handing over the Mahadev App case to the premier investigating agency in August of last year, following which the CBI took over the probe from the Chhattisgarh Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in January this year.
As the raids continued, the office of Bhupesh Baghel posted on X, "Now CBI has arrived. Today, ex-CM Bhupesh Baghel was to proceed to Delhi to attend a meeting of the 'drafting committee' constituted for the AICC’s upcoming conclave in Ahmedabad on 8-9 April. Before that, the CBI reached the residence in Raipur and Bhilai.”
Former Deputy Chief Secretary T. S. Singhdeo called the CBI raid a “targeted attempt to harass political opponents.”
The Mahadev Online Book betting App is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms to enable illegal betting websites to enroll users, create user IDs, and engage in money laundering through a layered web of ‘benami’ bank accounts. The App betting scam is estimated to be worth over Rs 6000 crore.
The political storm in the state intensified when the ex-CM was linked by the ED to the Mahadev scam ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections. At the time, Baghel had described it as a “ploy carried out to defame him.”