Saurabh Chandrakar, the fugitive mastermind of $Rs 6,000 crore from Mahadev online gambling syndicate has been arrested in Oman, people aware of the developments said on Wednesday, adding that an extradition request is being sent to Muscat.
While agencies are trying to ascertain details of his arrest through official channels, officials who did not want to reveal their names said that Chandrakar, whose last location was in the UAE, was detained by the Royal Oman Police based on the Interpol notice issued by the Indian agencies.
Initial information indicates that Chandrakar was traveling to Oman on a fake passport obtained from a Southeast Asian country.
India and Oman have an extradition treaty, and officials in New Delhi hope Chandrakar, wanted since 2019, will finally be returned to India.
Earlier, requests for his extradition to the UAE were fruitless although he was detained in Dubai in 2024 but was later released.
Read also: Ravi Uppal, Mahadev’s betting app promoter, is fleeing the UAE and is currently untraceable
Chandrakar, who is in his early 30s, founded the Mahadev betting empire with co-founder Ravi Uppal. The duo fled to Dubai sometime in 2019, and their network is allegedly still running betting apps and websites from there.
Based on an Interpol Red Notice, UAE authorities briefly detained Saurabh Chandrakar in October 2024 and kept him under house arrest. In the same month, India sent an extradition request but it was not implemented, “rendering the matter futile.”
As HT exclusively reported on November 4, 2025, Ravi Uppal has disappeared from the UAE after authorities in the Gulf country decided to close extradition proceedings against him.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Chhattisgarh Police are also investigating the Mahadev founders along with several public servants in Raipur. Illegal betting operations, which continue across India despite the government’s ban on many Mahadev-related platforms and apps, allow people to place illegal bets on poker, other card games, games of chance, cricket, badminton, tennis, football matches, and even election results.
The ED in one of its chargesheets in the case claimed that the ‘betting empire’ was running at least 3,200 (betting) boards in different cities, generating approx. $240 crores per day.
The duo – Chandrakar and Upal – have rented 20 villas in Dubai to accommodate their 3,500 employees. Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has also been named as an accused in the investigation.
