Mumbai: A group of seven men controlled the allegedly illegal operations of the Mahadev Online Book (MOB), according to an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer close to the investigation.
Until recently it was believed that two men, Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal were the masterminds. Now, ED has named a German national Lark Marshall and four Indians, Ratan Lal Jain, Hari Shankar Tibrewal, Girish Talreja and Shubham Soni aka Pintu Bhaiyya, in addition to Uppal and Chandrakar as the app’s brains trust.
According to the ongoing investigation, the group of five paid ₹76 lakhs to lower-rung operatives cited as witnesses by the investigating agencies to keep their names out of the investigation. ED officials allege that while Lark Marshall designed the betting app, the daily operations, revenue generation and transactions, and further investment of the profits generated from the illegal betting activities were controlled by the six Indians.
ED is also believed to have learnt that MOB’s top tier orchestrated a campaign among MOB branch operators in India to put the entire blame on Chandrakar and Uppal if questioned by investigating agencies; a probe into the operation began in 2022. To ensure that the names of the five other controllers did not come out, Soni paid ₹76 lakh to seven of panel operators who named Chandrakar and Uppal to the Chhattisgarh police, ED officials said.
One of the great mysteries of the MOB operations was how Chandrakar, who sold sugarcane juice and Uppal who ran a small tyre shop in Bhilai came to helm a multi-million-dollar international operation. Now, investigators say, it has emerged that MOB was, in fact, set up more like a cooperative society controlled by the group. This came to light in the statement by witness Paramjeet Singh, who allegedly handled the work of 490 MOB panels in India spread across Delhi and other states in the north including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Singh allegedly earned a commission of 5% or roughly ₹2 crore per month for his work for MOB, disclosed the ED officials. He was intercepted by the agency after he allegedly met Soni and Jain in Dubai this February and was asked to oversee the launch of a new betting platform, Ganesha, at a hotel in Goa early in March. Investigators searched the Goa premises on March 4 and recovered ₹48 lakh in cash. Three days later ED recorded Singh’s statement in which he revealed that he had a close working relationship with Soni since 2017-18 when they were both involved in “offline gambling” prior to the launch of the MOB platform.
Also on ED’s radar, is the German national Lark Marshall who recently fled to Russia. ED officials said that the middle-aged German, along with another foreign national whose identity is being ascertained, developed the core MOB platform’s betting structure. It is believed that he structured several such similar online betting-gaming platforms in Mexico and other Latin American countries and ED is trying to ascertain how the duo benefitted from the proceeds of crime.
Investigators say that while the German national’s role included providing technical support to the MOB platform, its operations in India and elsewhere were handled by Chandrakar, Uppal, Jain, Tibrewal, Talreja (until his arrest in March) and Soni, who together controlled at least 19 betting books on the MOB platform.
In his statement to the agency, Singh explained that he reported directly to Soni. “I managed the promotion, transactions, and accounting for Sky Exchange, Lotus 365 and Mahadev Book, which I delivered to Shubham Soni,” he said. Singh also told investigators that Soni, in turn, took instructions from Tibrewal, Jain and Girish Talreja and passed them on to him.
“In 2020, Shubham Soni moved to Dubai. When he visited India in December 2020, we met in Delhi where he explained that the main betting apps like Sky Exchange, Lotus 365, and Mahadev Book were managed by Ratanlal Jain, Girish Talreja, and Harishankar Tibrewal from Dubai. The trio proposed that Soni should oversee these betting websites from Dubai,” claimed Singh in his statement.
Singh also mentioned that the alleged owners of these betting websites were two foreign individuals who had also developed various such betting websites for other countries as well. “Tibrewal, Talreja and Jain came in contact with them and began operating these online betting apps in India. The branding and operation of the betting apps in India were determined by Tibrewal, Talreja and Jain,” he told e ED in his statement.
Singh also named 19 of the 60-odd betting books/sites/platforms that are part of the MOB syndicate. These include Sky Exchange, Lotus 365, Mahadev Book, Reddy Anna, Reddy Club, CBTAF Online Book, Bet Bhai Book, Super Win, Win Buzz, Jannat Book, Mahakal Book, Laser Book, Kohinoor Book, Appa Book, Alibaba Book, Khelo Yaar, SD Book, Lion Book and Rajveer Online Book. As earlier reported by HT, the Khelo Yaar Book is run with stakeholders in Pakistan including those linked to an underworld gang that has its origins in Mumbai. Singh claimed that Jain, Talreja and Tibrewal have allegedly acquired up to 12 properties in Dubai, ED sources added.
MOB leadership split amid probes
The MOB network that grew rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic began to unravel after the Chhattisgarh police and ED began their investigation. While a few books had to be shut down, Soni allegedly told Singh that certain panel operators were defrauding and withholding payments owed to MOB’s Dubai–based HO. With the investigators hot on their trail, Jain, Tibrewal and Talreja allegedly instructed Soni to ensure that their involvement and role stayed a secret. Soni was especially worried, Singh told investigators after the arrest of the alleged panel operator identified only as Alok, by the Bhilai police in 2022; Alok named him as one of the MOB operators.
“He instructed us that anyone who names only Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal as the owners after being caught would be rewarded with at least ₹5 lakh. I was directed by Soni to arrange the reward money, which was distributed through panel coordinators to panel operators and then to the following individuals: Anish ( ₹5 lakh), Alok ( ₹5 lakh), Sagar ( ₹6 lakh), Rampravesh (5 lakh), Khadag ( ₹5 lakh), Kunal ( ₹25 lakh) and Yusuf ( ₹25 lakh). All of these individuals eventually named Sourabh and Uppal as the owners of Mahadev Book when questioned by the investigating agencies,” Singh told the investigators.
ED investigations revealed that Talreja held a stake in the operations of “Lotus365 ‘’, an affiliate of MOB, in which Jain and Chandrakar were also partners. An alleged hawala operator, Tibrewal laundered the proceeds of crime emanating from the betting operations in the guise of share investments. ED recently froze share investments worth ₹1,186 crore of the firms controlled by Tibrewal either directly or indirectly. “The recent searches in Kolkata revealed that Mr Hari Shankar Tibrewal was also involved in manipulation of the stock market in collusion with the promoters of listed companies. Using his immense capital, he would create temporary fluctuations in share prices, driving them upwards, and then withdraw funds once the prices reached a desirable level,” said an ED officer.
Tibrewal, Jain and Talreja footed the bill—all in cash–for Chandrakar’s Dubai wedding in February 2023, which was attended by 17 Bollywood celebrities, many of whom also performed during the festivities, according to Singh Payments to the stars were allegedly made by Jain’s firm, Konark Industries.
ED, as part of its inter-state investigation, has so far seized or frozen movable assets worth ₹1,764.5 crore under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, arrested 11 people and charge-sheeted 44 persons. Chandrakar and Uppal were detained in Dubai a few months ago after red corner notices were issued at the agency’s behest.
