Sourabh Chandrakar is an Indian businessman and promoter of the Mahadev online gambling application who gained notoriety in 2023 for his involvement in a money laundering scheme related to the application.
Wiki/Biography
Sourabh Chandrakar hails from Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. He studied at St Thomas’ College, Bile. Later, he moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
Saurabh Chandrakar at wedding in Ras Al Khaimah, Dubai
family
Parents and siblings
Chandrakar is the son of a former employee of the Bhilai Municipal Corporation.
wife and children
In February 2023, he married Harshita in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. The lavish Rs 200-crore wedding made headlines as Chandrakar hired a private jet to fly his family from Nagpur to the UAE and invited Ranbir Kapoor, Atif Aslam, Vishal Dadarani, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Tiger Shroff, Ali Asghar, Sunny Leone, Krissy and other celebrities Kharbanda, Elli AvrRam, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Bharti Singh, Krusha Abhishek and Bhagyashree.
Sourabh Chandrakar and his wife at their wedding in February 2023
religion
He believes in Hinduism.
Profession
humble beginnings
In 2023, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal were investigated for their involvement in a money laundering scheme related to the Mahadev online gambling app. The duo came from humble beginnings as small business owners in Chhattisgarh. Talking about Chandrakar in an interview, his acquaintance Rakesh said:
His father used to work in Nagar Nigam. The financial situation of the family can be imagined. His performance was average. No one, not even himself, would have imagined that so much money would come to him. “
According to reports, Chandrakar worked as a salesman in a clothing store in Bhilai, earning a monthly income of 10,000 rupees. Later, he opened a juice stall called ‘Juice Factory’ in Nehru Nagar, Bhilai.
Photo of Juice Factory in Hru Nagar, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, run by Sourabh Chandrakar
Saurabh Chandrakar often hangs out at Sooraj Mobile in Akashganga Complex, Bhilai. He is a cricket enthusiast and his journey into the world of betting started with this sport. Talking about Chandrakar in an interview, his acquaintance Mahesh said:
My earlier mobile phone shop was on this road, right next to where he (Chandrakar) used to sit. We interacted on a daily basis for 8-9 months, until during the lockdown, his Mahadev App ID started selling like hotcakes. “
Uppal, meanwhile, owned a tire shop. Some sources said Uppal hailed from an upper-middle-class family in Bhilai and had contracts to install drilling wells and run oil-related businesses. Uppal had already been involved in gambling for more than a decade when he founded the app. Uppal left Bhilai a few years ago, but every time he returned to his hometown, he would meet friends, mostly local gamblers, at a paan stall in the Akash Ganga market. It was there that he met Chandrakar. Together they started their journey as a local bookmaker, targeting people on a hyper-local level. In 2018, they moved to Dubai where they established the Mahadev online betting application.
The rise of Mahadev online betting app
The betting app is an umbrella group that provides an online platform for illegal betting sites to recruit new users, create user IDs and engage in money laundering through a complex network of Benami bank accounts. Users can place bets on a range of activities – from election results to games such as poker, card games and cricket. The Covid-19 pandemic has given owners the opportunity to expand their businesses. The pair hired operators and agents to attract customers, taking advantage of lockdowns when people were forced to work from home or were idle.
Key figures in Mahadev Gambling Application Case: Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal
While Chandrakar and Uppal manage operations from Dubai, the person representing the app in Bhilai is Raja Gupta, also known as Raj. After dropping out of school, Raj worked as a salesman in a clothing store in Akash Ganga market, earning Rs 1,600 per month until 2016. Later, he took up cricket betting. Raj works in a mobile phone store. As he went around raising money for mobile chargers and headphones, he would have traders in the market place their bets. After joining hands with Chandrakar, Raj’s lifestyle changed drastically. He bought an i20 car and an iPhone, wore gold and silver jewelry and had a dazzling social media presence, leading many to believe he was the owner of the betting app. According to reports, Raj was last seen in Bhilai in 2021. According to ED and police sources, Raj’s alleged role was to recruit youths from Chhattisgarh and take them to Dubai where they sold customer login IDs to operators for lakhs of rupees. While Chandrakar and Uppal retained the lion’s share of the profits, punters like Raj earned around 20%. Like Raj, Bhilai and several other youths collaborated with Chandrakar and Uppal, and their fortunes changed overnight, police said. Many of the 150-odd youths from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, MP, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were brought to Dubai to be trained in back-end operations – from issuing ID cards to potential customers to Handle money flow. Some stayed, others were sent back to India to take care of business there. A person who has been to Dubai said,
I desperately wanted money to pay off my debt, so I went to Dubai in December 2021. We, about 70 people from Chhattisgarh, lived in a villa in Dubai for six months. My monthly salary is Rs 40,000, of which I send Rs 10,000 to my family. They paid for our food and accommodation and we got to hang out in Dubai. “
Chandrakar and Uppal ran gambling operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Targeted at a public looking to make easy money, this gambling activity soon flourished and expanded its reach to countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They have established a network of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 panel operators across India who will assist bettors in creating accounts, placing bets and processing financial transactions on the app. The group franchises groups or branches to its known associates at a profit ratio of 70-30. The massive hawala operation was carried out to transfer betting proceeds to offshore accounts. The racket is promoted through advertising and paid endorsements by celebrities such as Huma Qureshi and Hina Khan. The two companies grew to the point where they had a monopoly on illegal offshore gambling in India and went on to acquire brands such as FairPlay, Reddy Anna and Lotus365. They have even launched new brands called ‘Betbhai’ and ‘Ambani Book’.
Allegedly linked to Dawood Ibrahim’s D Company
In 2023, the ED discovered that Chandrakar and Uppal had links to Company D, an organized crime group created and controlled by Indian gangster and drug lord Dawood Ibrahim. After the success of the Mahadev Book app, Chandrakar reportedly came into contact with some influential people in the UAE, who are related to Daoud Ibrahim’s brother Mushtajim Ibrahim Kaskar Close relationship. Impressed with the revenue that Chandrakar and Uppal earned from the betting app, Kaskar asked the duo to develop a similar betting app for Pakistan. In 2021, under the umbrella of Dawood Ibrahim and with the support of ISI, Chandrakar launched a betting app called ‘Kheloyar’ in Pakistan. The app also works in India. Several Bollywood celebrities including Govinda, Randeep Hooda, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Daisy Shah, Rashmi Desai and Shefali Jariwala have endorsed the Pakistani app through video clips.
Govinda promotes Kheloyar app
Kheloyar Gaming App is also one of the sponsors of Sri Lanka Premier League (LPL) in July 2023, Sri Lanka T20 Cricket Championship, and some other illegal betting platforms. Sources also claimed that Kaskar gifted a villa in Saudi Arabia to Chandrakar and Uppal.
Education Department’s investigation into suspected fraud
The Mahadev app came under the scanner of the Chhattisgarh police for the first time after a regular user of the platform committed suicide in Durg district. During the investigation, it was discovered that he had placed bets online. Then, during Chandrakar’s extravagant rupee match, the racket came into focus. A Rs 200-crore wedding in February 2023 in the UAE. Several Bollywood celebrities have been investigated by ED for attending Chandrakar’s wedding or supporting the controversial app. Thereafter, a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Raipur issued non-bailable arrest warrants and surveillance notices to Chandrakar and Uppal. In 2023, the ED named 14 people, including online gambling app promoters Chandrakar and Uppal, as accused in the charge sheet. The chargesheet has been filed before the PMLA special court in Raipur. ED issued Notice of Attention (LoC) against Chandrakar and Uppal. According to the investigation agency, the proceeds of crime may be around Rs 6,000 crore.
related arrests
On October 16, 2023, Mrugank Mishra (25), the main accused in the fraud case, was arrested at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai when he arrived from Dubai. Detained by security personnel. Mishra is accused of helping promoters of the app open hundreds of questionable bank accounts to transfer funds generated by the scam. He was later detained by a police team in Rajasthan, where he faced a cheating and forgery case related to the Mahadev app.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education