New Delhi, April 1 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally implicated former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, in its First Information Report (FIR) as part of the ongoing investigation into the Mahadev App online betting scandal.
Earlier, Baghel’s name had surfaced in the FIR filed by Chhattisgarh’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), and it has now been incorporated into the CBI’s case.
Recently, the CBI executed extensive raids on March 26 across more than sixty locations, spanning Chhattisgarh, Bhopal, Kolkata, and Delhi. These operations targeted properties linked to politicians, bureaucrats, law enforcement officials (police), and individuals associated with the betting platform. The searches yielded vital digital and financial records.
Mahadev Book, an online betting platform, is promoted by Ravi Uppal and Saurabh Chandrakar, both currently residing in Dubai. Investigations have unveiled allegations that the promoters paid substantial sums as “protection money” to public officials, enabling the unhindered operation of their illicit betting network.
Reacting to these raids, the former Chief Minister Baghel wrote on his X handle on March 29, “We wrote letters to the Modi government several times regarding the arrest of Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, but no action was taken. The officials of the double-engine government kept spreading the lie of Saurabh and Ravi’s arrest in the media for a week and there in Dubai, the favourite storyteller of the BJP government, Pradeep Mishra Maharaj was narrating Mahadev Katha to Saurabh and Ravi Uppal.”
In another post on X, he wrote on March 27, “Why has Pradeep Mishra not been questioned in this matter till date? For the CBI action taken yesterday (raids), we can say, ‘Ulta chor kotwal ko daante (the guilty blaming the innocent)’. In the SP-Collector conference held in Raipur, I was the first one to instruct the officers to take action against the Mahadev Satta app, after which FIRs, arrests and account seizures were done in the entire state. Our government itself brought a Bill in the assembly to stop online betting and strengthen the old law.”
Initially, the case was under the purview of Chhattisgarh’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW).
Subsequently, the state government transferred the investigation to the CBI to ensure a comprehensive inquiry into the involvement of senior officials and other principal suspects. The CBI’s raids have resulted in the confiscation of significant digital and documentary evidence, including critical financial records and transaction details.
Officials have stated that the investigation remains active, with further revelations anticipated in the days ahead. With Baghel now officially named in the CBI’s FIR, the case has assumed a political dimension, casting a spotlight on potential high-level complicity in the betting racket.
Speculations abound regarding the involvement of several senior government and administrative officials.
–IANS
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