What happened
India's Directorate of Enforcement (ED) said on 13 November 2026 that it 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 that day with the permission of the Special Court (PMLA) in Raipur, which remanded him to ED custody for seven days until 19 November. According to the ED, Chandrakar and co-promoter Ravi Uppal ran Mahadev Online Book, a set of online betting websites, from a head office in Dubai through a franchise of 'betting panels' across India and the UAE, with player money moving through bank accounts held in other people's names and leaving India through hawala; the ED's October 2023 complaint estimated the syndicate's earnings at about Rs 450 crore a month. The ED said he ignored 2023 summonses, was the subject of a non-bailable warrant and an INTERPOL Red Notice, obtained a Vanuatu passport, was ordered extradited by the Court of Appeal in Muscat on 8 October 2026 and was brought back from Muscat by the CBI on 1 November 2026. PTI described the case as a multi-crore-rupee cheating case. This follows the 12 November report of his remand to judicial custody in a CBI case. These are allegations.
How the scam works
A charge, an arraignment, a witness's testimony or a prosecutor's accusation is not a finding of guilt. People and companies named in these reports are accused, charged or, where the source says so, convicted or sentenced, and they are presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise. Do not treat a news report or a press release as a substitute for a court judgment. If you think you were affected by the same kind of scheme, keep records and report them to the investigating agency named in the source, or to your local police and your bank.
Source
Source: https://x.com/dir_ed/status/2121235434705650111 (@dir_ed, Nov 13, 2026, 8:35 AM ET); https://x.com/PTI_News/status/2121255023808241966 (PTI, 13 Nov 2026)
