The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has commenced the process of issuing a red corner notice against the kingpins of Mahadev Book illegal betting app, Saurabh Chandrakar and his partner Ravi Uppal.

Chandrakar and Uppal, natives of Bhilai, started out as local bookies but later moved to Dubai from where they operate one of the largest betting networks in India. As per ED sources, the duo have allegedly made over Rs 5000 crore already through the illegal betting app.

Both of them already had a lookout notice issued against them by a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The matter was further moved to the Ministry of External Affairs for issuing the red corner notice.

A red corner notice is issued against individuals who are either wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence. Under a red corner notice, law enforcement agencies worldwide are requested to locate and arrest the said persons pending extradition.

International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has appointed a National Central Bureau (NCB) in all of its 195 member countries. These bureau serve as a single point of contact between Interpol and the respective law enforcement agencies of that member country.

In India, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the official NCB that is tasked with publishing, maintaining, and updating Red Corner Notices against fugitives/offenders as needed by India’s law enforcement authorities.

The Mahadev Book case has seen arrests of several individuals recently. Arrested individuals included an ASI named Chandrabhushan Verma, a relative of mastermind named Satish Chandrakar, and hawala operators Anil Dammani and Sunil Dammani. Verma is accused of taking bribes amounting to Rs 65 crore and distributing it to other senior officials under him as well while the others are suspected of carrying out operations of the illegal betting network and laundering the proceeds out of the country.

The ED presented the four high-profile accused to a special court recently which provided them their judicial custody for seven days which ended yesterday. During that time, ED successfully extracted various pieces of information on the illegal betting network and the people linked to it.

The four accused have now been sent to jail on Tuesday, September 5 where they will be put up until they get bail, reported The Indian Express.