The Chhattisgarh police have arrested 14 individuals from multiple states for allegedly placing bets on Indian Premier League (IPL) matches through panels linked to the Mahadev betting app, a senior police official said on Wednesday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is already probing a broader betting scam involving the Mahadev app in Chhattisgarh.
Raipur Range Inspector General of Police Amresh Mishra said that among those arrested, six are from Chhattisgarh, three from Jharkhand, two from Madhya Pradesh, and one each from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. Eight of the accused were apprehended in Kolkata, while the remaining six were nabbed in Guwahati. Their arrest followed the interrogation of Nikhil Wadhwani, who was taken into custody on April 13 for allegedly accepting online bets on IPL matches. Based on his statement, the police carried out further operations and made the arrests.
Officials said the accused were accepting bets through Mahadev app panels operating under the names L95 Lotus, Lotus 651, and LOTUS 656. The suspects revealed that they had purchased access to these panels for amounts ranging between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh. During the operation, police seized 67 mobile phones, eight laptops, four routers, 94 ATM cards, 15 SIM cards, 32 bank passbooks, three cheque books, one security camera, and betting transaction records amounting to Rs 30 lakh.
According to Mishra, the accused conducted transactions worth crores of rupees through more than 500 bank accounts. Authorities are now preparing to approach banks to freeze these accounts.
41 arrested in 17 IPL-related betting cases so far
So far, 41 people have been arrested in 17 IPL-related betting cases this season. These operations were allegedly conducted through various apps and panels including "Gajanand app, Mr Bean, Winpro-in, Diamond999-com, Wood777, Classic99-com, Funapp, Vazircom, Unclebet9com, Kingdombook9com, Shubhlabh app, and Gold363 app" — all linked to Mahadev platforms, police said.
The police have also written to banks to freeze over 1,500 accounts suspected of being used for betting transactions.
(With PTI inputs)