Raipur, Jul 15 (PTI) Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday alleged the Mahadev online betting app operated under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s protection and cited the arrest of Ebix Group chairman in the multi-crore money laundering case linked to the platform to back his claim.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested Ebix Group Chairman Vikas Garg (53) in Delhi in the multi-crore money laundering case linked to the Mahadev app.

Baghel claimed Garg is chairman of the BJP Delhi Economic Cell and son of former BJP MLA from the national capital, Nand Kishore Garg.

Posting photographs of the Garg Junior with senior BJP leaders and Union ministers on Facebook, the former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister alleged that the Mahadev betting app functions as a "betting wing" of the ruling party and is being operated as a syndicate under its patronage.

The Chhattisgarh BJP rejected Baghel's allegations, and said Garg has no connection with the BJP. The Ebix Group Chairman also told reporters outside a court he has no link with the saffron party.

Garg was involved in transactions worth over Rs 1,200 crore and earned around Rs 450 crore every month through the betting network, Baghel alleged in the post.

The ex-CM claimed differences over financial dealings within the alleged syndicate led to Garg's arrest.

The Congress leader asked the Centre why the controversial betting app is still functional, and why its operators based abroad had not been brought to India and why certain officials had not been investigated.

Baghel defended the previous Congress government in the state led by him (2018-23) and said it initiated the first crackdown on the app in Chhattisgarh by registering nearly 72 FIRs, arresting more than 400 people, freezing thousands of bank accounts, and seizing electronic devices.

He said his government had requested Google to remove the app from the Play Store.

State BJP spokesperson Vijayshankar Mishra rejected Baghel's allegations, and claimed Garg has no connection with the BJP.

He alleged that during Baghel's tenure as chief minister, criminals were patronised and many of those accused were either his supporters or had links with him.

"It appears Baghel believes people like Vikas Garg could be associated with the BJP, but that is not true. Garg has no connection with the BJP," Mishra insisted.

He asserted that the BJP will not spare any criminal and was committed to ensuring that anyone found guilty, regardless of their influence or identity, is sent to jail.

"Whether it is Vikas Garg or anyone else, no criminal will be spared," Mishra affirmed.

Following his arrest, Garg was produced before a special court in Delhi, which granted the ED 24-hour custody to take him to Raipur, where the investigation in the money laundering case linked to the app is taking place.

The ED produced him before a special PMLA court in the Chhattisgarh capital on Wednesday which sent him to the agency's custody for 10 days.

ED counsel Sourabh Kumar Pande said the central agency's investigation into the Mahadev app had led to the filing of one main prosecution complaint (chargesheet) and four supplementary prosecution complaints, with different accused named in each of them.

He alleged proceeds of crime generated through the betting platform were routed into the Indian economy through fake salary payments, shell accounts, share capital investments, foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investments and secured bonds.

Pande said the investigation uncovered Garg's alleged connection to the money trail through one Hari Shankar Tibrewal. The probe revealed Tibrewal channelled funds generated from the app into India through Garg using two different methods.

The first method involved converting cash into legitimate banking transactions before introducing it into the financial system. The money generated through the Mahadev app was routed into bank accounts opened in the names of fictitious persons or through proxy account holders, said the ED counsel.

These individuals were shown as employees and fake salary payments were made to create legitimate bank entries. After being brought into the banking system, the funds were invested as share capital, he claimed.

Pande said the second method involved routing the proceeds of crime through institutional investment channels. Garg allegedly facilitated the laundering of funds linked to Mahadev through companies incorporated in Dubai, Mauritius, the United Kingdom and the US.

Responding to Baghel's allegations outside a Raipur court, Garg denied any link with the BJP.

"I have no connection. Those are just photographs (cited by former CM) from events. I have nothing more to say," he told reporters when asked about his connection with BJP leaders.

The ED has been probing the Mahadev app-linked money laundering case, unearthed during the previous Congress government in the state, since more than three years now.

The state's Economic Offence Wing (EOW) registered an FIR into the alleged scam in March 2024 based on a report submitted to it by the ED. Baghel along with promoters of the app, Ravi Uppal, Saurabh Chandrakar, Shubham Soni and Anil Kumar Agrawal and 14 others, were named as accused in the EOW's FIR.

In August 2024, the state government handed over 70 cases related to the scam lodged with different police stations and one case with EOW to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The ED alleged in the past that its probe in the Mahadev online gaming and betting app has shown involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, the native state of two main promoters of the app, Chandrakar and Uppal.

It said the app is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs and laundering of money through a layered web of benami bank accounts. The projected proceeds of crime in the case are about Rs 6,000 crore, according to the ED. PTI TKP RSY