A CBI team has successfully extradited Sourabh Chandrakar, the promoter and mastermind behind the 6,000-crore rupee Mahadev Online Book illegal betting syndicate, from Oman to India. Following an Interpol Red Corner Notice, Chandrakar was located and detained by the Royal Oman Police.

A CBI team flew to Muscat, Oman, to escort him back. He will be produced before the special CBI Court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, today.

Chandrakar faces severe criminal charges stemming from separate probes launched at the request of the Chhattisgarh government. He is named as a principal accused across two filed chargesheets detailing criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and public servant bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint regarding massive money laundering. Illicit gains were allegedly distributed through broad networks of mule accounts, layered through multi-tier transactions, and syphoned out of India via hawala operations.

According to investigators, the Mahadev Online Book operation was one of India’s largest transnationally managed illegal gambling syndicates. It offered users illegal bets on cricket, football, card games, and diverse events via localised franchise “panels” and “branches”.

A portion of the proceeds was routinely used to pay off public servants to secure seamless and unhindered operations for the syndicate.