Representative image. Pulakit Singh, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Why it matters
The CBI says the platform ran through local panel operators and bank accounts in other people's names, not only through its promoters abroad. The searches show the investigation moving to that network in at least six states, and the agency says public servants are also under scrutiny.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has searched 33 locations in six states in the Mahadev betting case, acting on what the app’s promoter Saurabh Chandrakar told investigators after he was brought back from Oman. The agency announced the searches on Saturday, 14 November 2026, and said they had been carried out over the past few days.
Officers recovered phones, other digital devices and documents that, according to the CBI, point to mule bank accounts and hawala channels. The agency also said it found live betting and gambling panels running at several of the searched places and shut them down, The Hindu reported.
Where the CBI searched in the Mahadev betting case
The premises were linked to panel operators of the platform, officials said. The cities named in the reports are Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Amritsar, Bhopal and Raipur, with other places not listed. The reports read did not name the six states one by one or say how many searches took place in each city.
The CBI searches followed Chandrakar’s questioning. CBI spokesperson Beena Yadav said his interrogation revealed details of how the platform worked and of its network of panel operators in India. He was also confronted with documentary and digital evidence collected earlier, she said in a statement quoted by The Hindu and the Press Trust of India (PTI).
The CBI spells his first name Sourabh in its statements. NewsPlainly uses Saurabh, as in its earlier reports.
How the CBI says the betting money moved
The agency’s account describes a chain with four links. These are the CBI’s allegations, made during an investigation; no court has ruled on them.
- Head office abroad. The platform was run from outside India through what the CBI calls a head office.
- Panel operators in India. A large network of operators, set up as franchised panels and branches, signed up users and created their customer IDs.
- Accounts in other people’s names. Betting money was collected in bank accounts opened or hired in the names of other persons, the spokesperson said. Investigators call these mule accounts: accounts that belong on paper to one person but are used by someone else to receive and pass on money.
- Hawala to send profits out. Profits were sent abroad through hawala, an informal system in which money moves between agents on trust, without passing through the banking system.
According to the CBI, Mahadev Online Book was one of the largest illegal online betting syndicates in the country. It allegedly took bets on cricket, football, card games and other events.
Two FIRs and a ₹6,000 crore scam, as reported
The CBI has registered two FIRs (first information reports, the police record that starts a criminal case) after the Chhattisgarh government handed the investigation over to it. Both The Hindu and PTI describe the case as a ₹6,000 crore betting scam. That is the reported size of the alleged racket, not a loss figure confirmed by a court.
Beyond the mule accounts and the panels, the probe now covers other accused, including people based abroad, those who allegedly helped run the operations and public servants suspected of involvement, the spokesperson said. Steps to extradite the other accused who are absconding are under way. The reports did not name any of them.
From Oman to Raipur: two weeks of the Mahadev app case
Chandrakar now faces two central agencies at once. The CBI probes the cheating and corruption side of the case, while the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates money laundering, follows where the money went. The dates below come from the reports read and NewsPlainly’s earlier coverage.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1 November 2026 | Chandrakar extradited from Oman and arrested by the CBI |
| 4 November | Special CBI court in Raipur gives the CBI eight days’ custody (our report) |
| 12 November | He is produced in the same court and sent to judicial custody until 19 November, PTI reported |
| 13 November | The ED arrests him in Raipur; a special court gives the ED custody until 19 November (our report) |
| 14 November | The CBI announces searches at 33 locations in six states based on his disclosures |
What happens next in the case
The material seized in the CBI searches is now part of that investigation. Chandrakar’s custody in both cases runs until 19 November. The CBI said its investigation into the wider network is continuing.
Chandrakar is an accused, not a convicted person. The Hindu and PTI reports read for this article did not include a response from him or his lawyers to the CBI’s statement on the searches.
Frequently asked questions
How many places did the CBI search in the Mahadev betting case?
33 locations in six states, including Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Amritsar, Bhopal and Raipur, the CBI said on 14 November 2026.
What did the CBI find in the Mahadev searches?
Phones, other digital devices and documents that the agency says point to mule bank accounts and hawala channels. It also says it shut down live betting panels.
Where is Saurabh Chandrakar now?
He is in judicial custody in the CBI case and in ED custody after his 13 November arrest; both run until 19 November, according to PTI.