CBI custody ends, Chandrakar jailed; ED secures production warrant
   Date :13-Nov-2026
 
CBI custody ends
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
Raipur :
In significant developments involving two central investigating agencies, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Thursday remanded alleged Mahadev Online Book (MOB) promoter Sourabh Chandrakar to judicial custody until November 19 after the CBI declined to seek further interrogation, while the Enforcement Directorate Raipur Zonal (ED-RPZO) secured his production warrant from the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
 
The order concludes the first round of custodial interrogation in an investigation whose suspected proceeds across MOB and associated betting platforms are placed in confidential investigative estimates at Rs 88,000 crore to Rs 94,000 crore, figures not judicially established. Chandrakar is scheduled to appear before the PMLA court at 11 am on Friday, when the ED intends to seek his arrest in its money-laundering case and apply for custodial interrogation.
The parallel proceedings followed the expiry of eight days of CBI custody. Special CBI Judge Manoj Kumar Singh Thakur ordered seven days of judicial remand after the agency declined to seek an extension, defence counsel Tushar Giri, told the media persons. Chandrakar, extradited from Oman earlier this month, was brought from New Delhi to Raipur and lodged in Central Jail following the order.
 
The ED initially approached the CBI court seeking execution of an outstanding non-bailable warrant against Chandrakar. That application was dismissed, according to Giri. ED counsel Sourabh Kumar Pande indicated that the agency would pursue proceedings before the designated PMLA court.
The subsequent production warrant opens the way for his appearance before that court;
any arrest or transfer to ED custody will require the applicable legal process and judicial orders. Well-placed CBI sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have disclosed that alleged protection payments figured prominently during Chandrakar’s interrogation. According to these sources, Chandrakar attributed liaison arrangements to co-promoter Ravi Uppal, who allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh twice every month as protection money.
 
The reported Rs 1 crore monthly arrangement, including its recipients and financial trail, remains an investigative claim.The same sources said Chandrakar acknowledged overseeing betting-panel operations and a system of hawala-linked transactions while denying responsibility for the purported liaison network. Investigators also confronted him, according to these accounts, with a video in which Shubham Soni claimed that Chandrakar and Uppal worked under him. Chandrakar reportedly referred investigators to Soni for an explanation.
The agency alleged that the Dubai-controlled network ran illegal betting through franchised panels and branch oper