Raipur, Durg, Bhopal, Nagpur and Indore were among the major cities of Central India where the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched a massive crackdown on the Mahadev Online Book (MOB) illegal betting syndicate, conducting searches at 33 locations across six States and Delhi. The operation, extending from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra, including Mumbai, followed crucial disclosures by extradited kingpin Saurabh Chandrakar and exposed betting panels still operating despite ongoing investigations. CBI teams dismantled active gambling operations and seized digital devices, mobile phones and documents allegedly revealing an extensive network of mule bank accounts and hawala transactions.

 

The coordinated searches, conducted over the past few days, targeted premises associated with panel operators. Beyond these six cities, the agency identified Amritsar, Delhi, Nagaur, Dholpur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat. Officers seized mobile phones, digital devices and documents allegedly exposing bank accounts operated in other people’s names and the hawala network used to transfer betting proceeds. The CBI has not disclosed the number of panels dismantled, the distribution of searches across individual cities or any arrests arising from the operation. The discovery of functioning panels is significant because investigators suspect the offshore-controlled network has continued to recruit customers, collect wagers and move funds even after successive criminal proceedings. According to the CBI, panel operators manage betting IDs and receive money through accounts opened or hired in the names of third parties. Profits are then allegedly routed abroad through hawala channels to those directing the platform from overseas.

 

Chandrakar was brought back from Oman and arrested by the CBI on November 1. Investigators said his interrogation revealed the network’s operational structure and details of Indian panel operators. He was also confronted with documentary and digital evidence already gathered. The agency is investigating two First Information Reports (FIRs) transferred by the Chhattisgarh Government, while examining the roles of facilitators, public servants and other accused, including those based abroad. Extradition efforts against absconding suspects are continuing. An 18-page remand application submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) before the Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court on November 13 provides further context for the CBI’s discovery of active panels. The ED alleged that MOB operations persisted after its main prosecution complaint of October 20, 2023. Citing statements recorded during its investigation, the agency referred to associates operating multiple panels from Dubai and sought Chandrakar’s custodial interrogation to establish who currently controlled those operations.

 

These assertions form part of the ED’s application and are not findings recorded by the CBI in its search announcement. The ED’s November 13 court-filed remand application provisionally estimated suspected proceeds at Rs 75,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore from Mahadev Online Book, Rs 11,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore from Skyexchange and Rs 2,400 crore from Lotus365. It cautioned that these estimates were subject to further evidence. The figures represent alleged proceeds across different platforms, not assets seized or attached.

 

The accompanying six-page CBI court order of November 12 records that the investigating agency sought an extension of Chandrakar’s police custody. Special Judge Manoj Kumar Singh Thakur declined the request, observing that sufficient time had already been available for questioning, and remanded him to judicial custody until November 19. The judge also directed the ED to approach the competent PMLA court rather than execute its outstanding arrest warrant through the CBI proceedings. The ED arrested Chandrakar separately at the Raipur court complex on November 13 under Section 19 of the PMLA, according to its remand application. The CBI has warned that renting or lending bank accounts, SIM cards and identity documents for illegal betting operations can expose their holders to criminal prosecution. “The latest searches indicate that identifying the people who operate the panels, supply financial infrastructure and facilitate overseas transfers remains central to the investigation,” officials privy to search-ops told The Hitavada.