4 min readRaipurMar 27, 2026 02:48 AM IST
First published on: Mar 26, 2026 at 12:37 PM IST
Luxury villas and high-end apartments in some of Dubai’s most premium locations, including in the Burj Khalifa, are among properties collectively worth Rs 1,700 crore attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Mahadev Online Book betting case.
The properties belong to Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the alleged kingpins of the betting platform. He made news in 2023 for his lavish, Rs 200-crore wedding in Dubai, for which family members arrived in private jets, and the guest list included Bollywood celebrities.
Sourabh, originally a clothes salesman from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, who also ran a juice centre, had teamed up with another key accused in the case, Ravi Uppal, to create the betting platform in 2018, officials said.
The total value of properties attached, seized or frozen in the case stands at around Rs 4,336 crore.
The Raipur Zonal Office of the ED issued a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) on March 24, and attached 20 immovable properties, including 18 in Dubai and two in New Delhi. The immovable assets, worth nearly Rs 1,700 crore, were seized as part of the ED probe into the Mahadev Online Book betting case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“The foreign assets are located in prime areas of Dubai and comprise luxury villas and apartments in Dubai Hills Estate, including Hills View, Fairway Residency and Sidra, apart from multiple high-end apartments in Business Bay and SLS Hotel & Residences. Some of the attached properties are also located in Burj Khalifa,” the ED said in a statement.
The agency said the properties belong to Sourabh Chandrakar, identified as one of the main promoters of the Mahadev Online Book application, and are held in the names of entities controlled by him and his associates, including Vikas Chhaparia, Rohit Gulati, Atul Arora, Nitin Tibrewal and Surendra Bagri.
The agency alleged that the assets were acquired from proceeds of crime generated through illegal online betting operations linked to the Mahadev platform and other similar applications.
The investigation was initiated on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by police in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against individuals linked to betting platforms such as Mahadev Online Book and Skyexchange, as well as certain government officials.
The ED said the Mahadev Online Book functioned as a large-scale international betting syndicate, operating through multiple platforms such as Tiger Exchange, Gold365 and Laser247.
The network allegedly followed a franchise-based model with “panels” or “branches” run by associates across India, while promoters Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal are said to have operated the syndicate from Dubai.
Investigators found that promoters retained around 70–75% of profits, with the remainder distributed among panel operators. The proceeds were allegedly routed through thousands of mule accounts using unsuspecting individuals’ KYC documents, and later transferred abroad via hawala channels, cryptocurrency and layered financial transactions before being invested in high-value assets.
So far, the ED has conducted searches at over 175 premises, arrested 13 persons and named 74 accused in five prosecution complaints filed before a special PMLA court in Raipur.
Applications have also been filed to declare Sourabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal, Anil Agrawal alias Atul Agrawal and Shubham Soni as Fugitive Economic Offenders.
Further investigation is in progress, the agency said.
The ED has attached assets worth Rs 1,700 crore in the Mahadev betting app case linked to Sourabh Chandrakar. One of the two kingpins of the Mahadev online gambling app, at his wedding in UAE. (File Photo) 
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