Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Burea
A late-night police raid in a quiet residential neighborhood of Chhattisgarh’s Durg in March 2022 led to a haul of laptops, mobile phones, passbooks, and debit cards — a seizure that would later become the foundational link in uncovering the multi-crore Mahadev online betting network, police and court records show.
According to police records, officers at the Mohan Nagar police station registered a case at 11:50 pm on March 30, 2022, following a tip-off regarding an illegal online gambling operation in Pushpak Nagar, roughly 3 km from the station. The operation facilitated betting on cricket, horse racing, greyhound racing, and kabaddi.
Led by Inspector Jitendra Verma, a police team raided the premises and arrested three men: Alok Singh Rajput (32), Khadag Singh Rajput (29), and Rampravesh Sahu (22).
Police seized two laptops, 10 mobile phones, an internet router, two laptop chargers, 15 bank passbooks, 61 debit, credit and ATM cards, 39 cheque books and ₹12,500 in cash. The total value of the seized property was just a little over ₹3 lakh
The FIR said the accused were operating the betting business from a room using laptops and mobile phones. It described an online betting operation involving multiple games, online IDs and movement of money through banking channels. The connection with the Mahadev network emerged during the subsequent investigation.
Senior police officer Abhishek Pallav, who was the Durg district police chief at the time, said it was only in June 2022 that the first chargesheet naming the promoters of the Mahadev app was filed.
According to the investigations recorded in the tchargesheet, Pallav said the promoters ran an online betting syndicate across the country with the help of panel operators based abroad, including in Dubai, UAE.
“The charge sheet mentioned in detail how the operation of Mahadev betting happened,” Pallav said.
Pallav said the investigation subsequently established the functioning of the betting network and the role of panel operators. He also said police later registered a separate FIR at Bhilai Bhatti police station over the opening and operation of alleged mule bank accounts.
The Mohan Nagar case was cited by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as the predicate offence that led to the financial crimes agency to initiate a money laundering investigation into the Mahadev betting network.
Durg’s current senior superintendent of police, Vijay Agarwal, said the case remains pending before the court. “The case is under trial and is in court,” Agarwal said.
