Mahadev betting app founder Sourabh Chandrakar detained in Oman

Mahadev betting app founder Sourabh Chandrakar has been detained in Oman based on an Interpol Red Notice. Indian authorities are pursuing his extradition or deportation as the Enforcement Directorate continues its money laundering investigation into the alleged Rs 6,000 crore betting syndicate

New Delhi: Sourabh Chandrakar, the absconding founder and prime accused in the Mahadev betting app syndicate, has been detained in Oman, and India is trying to either get him extradited or deported from the country, officials said on Wednesday.

They said Chandrakar, a Chhattisgarh resident in his 30s, was detained by the Royal Oman Police a few weeks ago based on an Interpol Red Notice issued against him by Indian agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Chhattisgarh Police.

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The ED, a federal anti-money laundering agency, had earlier said the Mahadev betting app case involves various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, and the alleged proceeds of crime generated in the case stand at Rs 6,000 crore.

Investigators tracking him, apart from his partner and app co-founder Ravi Uppal, told PTI that informal inputs suggest Chandrakar was allegedly travelling on a passport issued by a Southeast Asian country.

Indian agencies had last stated that Chandrakar’s location was Dubai, where the UAE authorities had similarly detained him in 2024, but he was subsequently released. Meanwhile, they claimed Uppal fled from Dubai to Vanuatu, an archipelagic country in the South Pacific Ocean.

Officials said India is trying to either extradite or deport him from Oman, given the gravity of the offences he faces. India and Oman share good bilateral relations, and the officials expressed confidence that they would succeed.

Authorities pointed to the recent implementation of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries on June 1 to boost economic ties. The two-way trade between India and Oman stood at USD 11.2 billion during 2025-26.

Chandrakar reportedly left for Dubai in 2019. Before that, he ran a juice shop named “Juice Factory” with his brother in Bhillai town in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district.

Chandrakar and Uppal, through a statement issued a few years ago, had vehemently denied any association with the alleged betting racket.

In March, the ED said it had attached assets worth Rs 1,700 crore, mostly located in Dubai, including in the iconic Burj Khalifa, belonging to Chandrakar and his linked entities.

According to the ED, the Mahadev app operated as a large-scale international betting syndicate that allegedly facilitated illegal betting through multiple online platforms and domain names such as ‘Tiger Exchange’, ‘Gold365’ and ‘Laser247’.

The operation was structured through a franchise-based network of ‘panels’ and ‘branches’ operated by associates across India, while the main promoters, Chandrakar and Uppal, operated and controlled the betting syndicate from Dubai, it said.

The agency has arrested 13 people as part of the investigation, naming a total of 74 entities as accused in the five charge sheets filed before a special PMLA court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, so far.

It has also moved a court seeking to declare Chandrakar, Uppal and others named in the case, including Anil Agrawal alias Atul and Shubham Soni, as fugitive economic offenders under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.