Mahadev betting app case: Mumbai police make first arrest

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Mumbai police Crime Branch has made its first arrest in the Rs 15,000-crore Mahadev betting app fraud case. Mira Road resident Dixit Kothari was arrested on Thursday by the SIT. He had allegedly created an ID which was used in buying the domain name for the betting app. He was also allegedly maintaining the betting site and paying fee for a couple of years. He was also allegedly in contact with some bookies and punters, and sold apps for betting operations. These apps and online betting were allegedly part of the umbrella operations carried out under Mahadev online betting network, a police source said.

Mumbai police in November last year had booked 32 people as accused in the Mahadev betting app case, including promoters of the app Saurabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal and Shubham Soni, in addition to Mohit and Gaurav Burman of Dabur Group.

Earlier, the Chhattisgarh police had registered 75 FIRs in the case following which the ED investigated the matter.

Story continues below this ad

The 25-page FIR first registered with the Matunga police on November 7 is based on a complaint by a Matunga resident, one Prakash Bankar, and mainly revolves around Khiladi app, a subsidiary of Mahadev app. The FIR levels serious allegations of cricket match-fixing, hawala transactions and alleged money laundering through crypto currency networks.

Bankar alleged in his statement that Chandrakar and others were actively involved in match-fixing of major cricket matches and tournaments in India. Bankar alleged that Chandrakar operated through Dinesh Khambat from London and Chander Aggarwal, both named as accused in the FIR.