By Neeraj Mishra
Forget Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi for a moment. The more recent blockbuster financial investigation has been unfolding far from the usual centres of corporate scandal—in Chhattisgarh, Dubai and the labyrinth of hawala and online betting. The Mahadev betting investigation, initially estimated at a few thousand crore rupees, has now put the alleged proceeds of crime at nearly Rs 95,000 crore, according to a fresh charge sheet filed before the Special PMLA Court in Raipur.
The investigation has already reached deep into the corporate world, drawing in two prominent travel-industry figures and putting the political establishment of Chhattisgarh under renewed scrutiny.
One of the most striking names is Vikas Garg, chairman of EbixCash. You may have encountered the company’s advertisements on social media and elsewhere. It presents itself as an “airport of financial services”, combining physical and digital financial services through what it calls “phyigital” technology. Investigators, however, allege that Garg became involved with the financial architecture surrounding the Mahadev betting operation.
In July, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Garg at his Delhi residence and produced him before a PMLA court in Raipur, which remanded him to ED custody. The agency has alleged that he was dealing with operators of the Mahadev Online Book. Properties worth more than Rs 940 crore have been attached.
Garg was also the national convenor of the BJP’s Delhi unit economic cell. Following his arrest, he was dropped by the party.
The investigation took another significant turn on September 21 when Nishant Pitti, co-founder of online travel company EaseMyTrip, was named in the charge sheet filed in Raipur. His personal demat holdings, valued at about Rs 59 crore, have been attached. However, Pitti has not been arrested.
The Mahadev operation itself began modestly enough. In 2018, the Mahadev App was reportedly a small betting website attracting gamblers, particularly around IPL cricket matches, in and around Durg in Chhattisgarh. Its alleged architects, Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, were local businessmen who gradually transformed the enterprise into something far larger.
As the betting operation expanded, so did its cash flows and its alleged political connections. Investigators have examined claims of political protection during the tenure of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. With reported daily revenues eventually running into hundreds of crores, Chandrakar and Uppal moved their operations to Dubai, where the business developed an international infrastructure.
Then came the wedding that changed the scale of public attention.
Chandrakar reportedly spent around Rs 250 crore on his wedding, bringing Bollywood celebrities to the celebrations on private aircraft. The lavish spectacle, coupled with allegations that performers were paid in cash, brought unprecedented scrutiny to the Mahadev network. What had once appeared to be a provincial betting operation had suddenly acquired the trappings of a global financial enterprise.
The political environment in Chhattisgarh also changed. Assembly elections were approaching in 2023, and the Mahadev allegations became an increasingly potent political issue. The CBI subsequently entered the investigation.
The estimated size of the alleged scam has meanwhile grown dramatically. What was initially put at around Rs 6,000 crore has now been upgraded in the latest Raipur charge sheet to approximately Rs 95,000 crore.
Both Chandrakar and Uppal have since been located in the Gulf—Chandrakar in Dubai and Uppal in Oman. Yet, despite Red Corner notices and extradition requests, their return to India has not materialised.
Investigators allege that the operation has continued to function from Dubai, reportedly employing hundreds of people around the clock through a network of sophisticated computer systems and properties in the city’s upscale areas.
A betting empire built on cash, however, needed a mechanism to move and disguise that money. According to the investigation, that mechanism led investigators to Harishankar Tibrewal, described by agencies as a Dubai-based hawala operator with an extensive international network. Tibrewal also owns SkyExchange.com, another betting platform that allegedly entered into a business relationship with the Mahadev network.
Investigators reportedly began piecing together this financial architecture after arrests in Raipur. One of those arrested, Abhishek Kumar, allegedly provided leads that took investigators to meetings in London involving Garg and Tibrewal.
According to the charge sheet, Garg met Tibrewal to work out the financing of the proposed acquisition of EbixCash, which formed part of the US-based Ebix group. Investigators allege that funds were raised through hawala channels to enable the acquisition of a 64 per cent stake.
The sequence of events is significant. In the summer of 2024, the meetings allegedly took place in London. By August, Ebix Group owner Robin Raina had filed for insolvency proceedings in the US, after which Garg’s Eraaya Lifespaces acquired the group.
The ED’s case is that Tibrewal helped layer and route alleged unaccounted Mahadev funds into Eraaya through companies operating from Dubai. Some of these entities, investigators allege, also channelled substantial investments into Indian equities through the foreign portfolio investor route.
That brings another corporate name into the investigation: Nishant Pitti.
In 2022, EaseMyTrip sponsored the Road Safety World Series, a cricket tournament featuring retired international cricketers. SkyExchange was also a co-sponsor. The association brought Pitti and Tibrewal into the same commercial orbit.
The charge sheet alleges that the relationship went further. According to investigators, Pitti used funds routed through hawala channels to artificially inflate the share price of his publicly listed company, Easy Trip Planners Ltd. The ED alleges that more than Rs 60 crore was channelled through the FPI route for this purpose, creating a substantial increase in the value of the company’s shares.
These allegations will ultimately have to stand the test of judicial scrutiny. Being named in a charge sheet or having assets attached does not, by itself, establish criminal guilt.
For now, the investigation has effectively split into two major tracks. The ED is following the alleged money trail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, while the CBI is investigating underlying offences including cheating, forgery and alleged violations of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The investigation has already produced a sprawling list of accused and suspects in Chhattisgarh, with more than 200 people reportedly caught up in various cases. Several IPS officers and bureaucrats have also been questioned, although the CBI has not arrested them.
And then there is the political dimension. Bhupesh Baghel, who was chief minister when the alleged betting network expanded, has faced allegations that he received about Rs 500 crore for the 2023 election campaign. He has denied wrongdoing, and the allegations remain part of an investigation and political dispute rather than an established finding of guilt.
With the next Chhattisgarh assembly election due in late 2028, the Mahadev investigation has plenty of time to acquire an even larger political and corporate footprint.
What began with bets placed on IPL matches in a small town has become a case study in how illicit money can travel—from betting platforms to hawala channels, from Dubai to London, from private companies to stock exchanges, and potentially from corporate transactions into politics.
The Mahadev trail is no longer simply a betting story. It is a story about the journey of money—and how far that journey can reach.
—The writer is a senior journalist
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