CBI names Baghel as accused in FIR in Mahadev app case

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday made its first information report in connection with the ₹6,000 crore Mahadev online betting app scandal public and revealed that it named former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as an accused. “The promoters of Mahadev Book App paid huge amounts of protection money to various police officers, administrative officers and influential political persons to stop police from taking any action on their illegal activities. Baghel was named as an accused along with Chandrakar and Uppal, the fugitive founders of Mahadev whose extraditions are being pursued in the UAE, in an FIR filed by the Chhattisgarh Police on March 4, 2024.The state government recommended CBI probe in the case in August 2024, roughly nine months after the BJP came to power, displacing the Congress. Between August 2024 and January 2025, CBI studied around 77 FIRs filed by Chhattisgarh police, including an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing in Raipur, naming Baghel as accused. ED has claimed that the Mahadev online betting app syndicate — which started in 2018 and saw Chandrakar and Uppal remotely run illegal betting operations, with the proceeds of crimes running into several thousand crores — allowed people to put illegal bets on live games such as poker, card games, chance games, matches of cricket, badminton, tennis and football, and even allowed access to apps to place bets on elections in India.