Sourabh Chandrakar, the kingpin of the Mahadev gambling app, got married in Dubai in February this year. According to the Enforcement Directorate, Sourabh spent ₹200 crore on his wedding. A major chunk of this amount went to Bollywood celebrities who attended and performed at the Dubai wedding. As they could now be summoned by the ED for interrogation, the names of Tiger Shroff, Sunny Leone, singer Neha Kakkar have come up as top attendees.
The ED is investigating ₹5,000 crore money laundering charge against Sourabh Chandrakar and his business partner Ravi Uppal who run the online gambling app from Dubai.
1. Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal are wanted in the money laundering case. They both are from Chhattisgarh.
2. According to ED sources, Chandrakar threw another party in Dubai on September 18, 2022. Some Bollywood stars have been paid ₹40 crore to attend that party at a seven-star luxury hotel.
3. At the February wedding, private jets were hired to take family members to Dubai from Nagpur. Bollywood celebrities, wedding planners, dancers, decorators were all flown from Mumbai to Dubai.
The list of performers, as reported, includes Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Asgar, Vishal Dadlani, Elli AvrRam, Bharti Singh, Bhagyashree, Kriti Kharbanda, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Krushna Abhishek among others.
4. Investigation into Mahadev Online Betting started in December last year. The Bollywood connection has only come to the fore now.
5. Mahadev Online Betting application is a game app on which around a million individuals have placed bets in the last year. The app is being operated from around 30 centres. But the promoters are now based in Dubai where betting is legal.
6. Some of the Bollywood personalities featured in YouTube videos promoting the Mahadev Online Book app.
7. ED has not officially disclosed the names of the Bollywood personalities who were featured on the advertisements of the app. But a leading comic, a character artiste, a top B-rung male star, a female comic star apparently received payment from the platform.
8. On Friday, the ED seized assets worth ₹417 crore in connection with the case from Bhopal, Mumbai and Kolkata.
9. The modus operandi of the betting site was to operate under various names in India since betting is banned.
10. Sourabh Chandrakar is believed to be in his early twenties. He used to be a juice vendor in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh
Source: Hindustan TImes
