Indian probe agencies are aggressively pursuing with UAE authorities the extradition of Mahadev online betting app co-founder Ravi Uppal, from Dubai, after successfully bringing back the mastermind, Sourabh Chandrakar, from Oman on Sunday, officials said.
Based on an Interpol red notice, he was located in Muscat and detained by Royal Omani police in late June. “CBI, in coordination with other central agencies has successfully secured the extradition of Sourabh Chandrakar, the promoter of the Mahadev App illegal betting syndicate, from the Sultanate of Oman. A CBI team specially deputed to Oman, has escorted him back to India. ED is also likely to take his custody soon.
He will now be produced before the CBI special court in Raipur,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. ED has claimed that Mahadev app’s systematic operation ran locally with the “active support and connivance” of local police and politicians from Chhattisgarh and that “the bureaucrats and politically exposed persons have been receiving illegal gratification for turning a blind eye to this illegal betting racket”. On Sunday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other agencies successfully extradited Chandrakar from Oman, officials said. Chandrakar is scheduled to be produced before a special court in Raipur on Monday.
“We have information that Ravi Uppal is now back in Dubai. The proceedings for his extradition are currently underway and we are aggressively pushing for his return as soon as possible. In his late 40s, Uppal, along with Chandrakar, fled India in 2019. An Interpol red notice was issued against him in October 2023, and he was subsequently taken into custody in Dubai two months later. In January 2024, ED sent an extradition request against him to the UAE but learnt that he was released within 45 days of his detention.
If both Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal are in our custody, we can unravel the entire conspiracy and identify all the beneficiaries here,” an ED officer said, seeking anonymity.
