New Delhi: Kingpins of white-collar crimes cannot be allowed to treat courts and investigation agencies as “mere instruments” to play around with, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday, as it directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to tighten the noose around Mahadev betting app co-founder, who fled Dubai to an undisclosed location.
HT had reported on Tuesday that Ravi Uppal, the fugitive co-founder of the Mahadev app, was untraceable and the UAE authorities have initiated “closure of his extradition proceedings” following his exit from Dubai, where he was kept under surveillance.
“This shocks our conscience. We have to do something about this. For kingpins like him, the courts and investigating agency are mere instruments to play around with,” a bench of justices MM Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma said.
The issue came up before the court in a petition filed by Uppal, who has challenged a March 22 order of the Chhattisgarh high court directing him to join the trial in the money laundering case pending before a Raipur court.
The court asked advocate VS Sulakshan, who appeared for Uppal, to counsel his client and convince him to return to India and face the proceedings.
“He cannot keep running all the time. He has to participate in this process. In matters of granting bail, we are liberal. We will consider his bail application at the appropriate stage,” the bench said, posting the matter on November 14.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, who appeared for the federal agency along with ED special counsel Zoheb Hossain, cited the HT report to point out that Uppal seems to have escaped from Dubai, where he was arrested in 2023. “They (Uppal’s lawyers) will seek instructions from whom? This report says that he has fled Dubai and gone to an unknown location,” the ASG said.
The senior law officer told the court that such issues happen often with economic offenders who flee to destinations from where their extradition becomes a challenge. “You can be extradited from the UAE as India has an extradition treaty with them. So, he may have gone to the British Virgin Islands where this is not possible as India does not have an extradition treaty with that country. This is what we apprehend,” Raju said.
The court then asked the federal financial crimes investigating agency to figure out how to secure Uppal.
“You find out otherwise we will dismiss his petition. Find out how to secure him. He seems to be quite resourceful flying from one place to the other,” the court said, asking ASG to examine if the recent top court judgment that allows probe agencies like ED to summon lawyers under exceptions can be employed to get details.
The bench told Uppal’s lawyer: “Tell your client to return and face proceedings.” In its order, the court made clear that “no more adjournments shall be entertained.”
Uppal was arrested in Dubai in December 2023 on an Interpol red notice. A month later, ED initiated the process of his extradition by writing to the UAE authorities in January 2024. Authorities in the UAE released him, but was kept under watch by the authorities there.
The fugitive accused is wanted in separate cases probed by ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the Mahadev Online Book app scam case.
Uppal along with his partner Sourabh Chandrakar started the Mahadev Online Book app in 2018 allowing multiple platforms and apps to place illegal bets on poker and other card games, games of chance, cricket, badminton, tennis, and football matches, and election outcomes. ED claims the entire syndicate is worth ₹6,000 crore with its operations spread across India.
Chandrakar was arrested in Dubai in October 2024 and the extradition request against him is still pending. Last year, ED had initiated proceedings against the duo under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act to strengthen the extradition process.
In one of its charge sheets in the case, ED claimed that the “betting empire” extended across 3,200 (betting) panels in multiple cities, generating around ₹240 crore per day. The initial investigations by the Chhattisgarh police had named former state chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel as an accused. Later, the probe was transferred to CBI, which re-registered the FIR in January this year.