The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday, November 13, arrested Saurabh Chandrakar, co-owner and promoter of the Mahadev Online Book illegal betting syndicate, under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), in Raipur, with the permission of the Special Court (PMLA), the agency said in a statement. The court remanded him to ED custody till November 19 for questioning.
Source: ED statement via The Columns, Nov 13, 2026
The arrest is the new step the ED had signalled a day earlier. On Thursday a special CBI court sent Chandrakar to judicial custody till November 19 after his CBI remand ended, and dismissed the ED's application on an existing non-bailable warrant; ED counsel then said the agency would approach the PMLA Special Court separately for his arrest in the money-laundering case — which it has now done.
Source: TaxConcept (ED statement), Nov 13, 2026
On November 12 a special CBI court in Raipur sent Chandrakar to judicial custody till November 19 and the ED's warrant application was dismissed, with the agency saying it would move the PMLA court separately. Friday's ED arrest and custody order are that next step. Read the earlier story: Chandrakar sent to judicial custody
In ED custody, Chandrakar will be confronted with the statements of his associates, digital data and documents concerning his foreign entities, and evidence of the alleged offence of money laundering, the ED statement said. He is the first promoter of the syndicate to be brought back to India, and the 15th person arrested by the ED in this case.
Source: ED statement via The Columns, Nov 13, 2026
What the ED alleges
According to the ED, Chandrakar and co-promoter Ravi Uppal operated Mahadev Online Book — various online betting websites — from a head office in Dubai through a franchise of betting panels across India and the UAE. Player money allegedly moved through bank accounts held in other people's names and left India through hawala channels. The ED's main prosecution complaint of October 20, 2023 estimated the syndicate's earnings at about Rs 450 crore a month. These are the agency's allegations; Chandrakar has not been convicted, and the case is under investigation and trial.
Source: ED statement via The Columns, Nov 13, 2026
The ED said Chandrakar did not answer its summons in September 2023 and kept evading investigation. On the agency's application, the Special Court issued a non-bailable warrant against him on September 4, 2023, and Interpol published a Red Notice against him shortly afterwards. His challenge to the warrant was dismissed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh on March 22, 2025. The ED said he had obtained a Vanuatu passport while holding an Indian passport and had claimed before the Special Court that he gave up Indian citizenship on June 28, 2022.
Source: ED statement via The Columns, Nov 13, 2026
Extradition from Oman
The Court of Appeal in Muscat ordered his extradition on October 8, 2026, rejecting his citizenship plea after the Embassy of India confirmed he is an Indian national, and recorded that he was apprehended while departing through Muscat International Airport on a forged travel document, the ED said. A CBI team — the nodal agency for such matters — brought him back from Muscat on November 1, 2026. He was produced before the PMLA Special Court in Raipur on Friday before the custody order, DevDiscourse reported.
Source: DevDiscourse, Nov 13, 2026
The ED said it has so far searched about 190 premises, seized or frozen about Rs 2,000 crore, and attached property now valued at about Rs 3,500 crore — about Rs 1,800 crore of it abroad, including 22 immovable properties in Dubai — and filed six prosecution complaints against 116 accused. In July 2026 the ED arrested Vikas Garg, whose companies allegedly received about Rs 940 crore of betting proceeds, of which about Rs 766 crore went into the acquisition of the US company Ebix Inc; the ED has attached about Rs 941 crore in that limb of the case, the statement said.
Source: ED statement via The Columns, Nov 13, 2026
The agency also said Chandrakar's wedding at Ras Al Khaimah in February 2023 cost about Rs 200 crore in cash, with three chartered aircraft from Nagpur, and that it traced that money through the event company, hotels and angadia firms — an allegation the agency says helped it identify the syndicate's management from the recovered guest list. What happens next: Chandrakar remains in ED custody till November 19, when he is due back before the court; the parallel CBI cases, in which chargesheets have already been filed, continue separately.