‘Mogambo Khush Hua’: Bhupesh Baghel Taunts Amit Shah Over CBI FIR In Mahadev Betting Scam

Raipur: Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday took a swipe at Union Home Minister Amit Shah after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) formally implicated him in its First Information Report (FIR) as part of the ongoing investigation into the Mahadev online betting scam.

Quoting the iconic dialogue of the Bollywood film Mr India, “Mogambo khush hua”, Baghel equated Shah to the villain “Mogambo”, saying the central agency and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government want to please the home minister and give him ammo to talk about during his upcoming visit to Chhattisgarh.

“Whenever Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and Home Minister (Amit Shah) visit Chhattisgarh, CBI and ED visit before that. Recently, the prime minister visited the state; the CBI conducted raids in 40-50 places. Now, Amit Shah is coming; the FIR of December 18, 2024, was made public, and I am being named as an accused. This is done to make Mogambo happy,” he said.

“I allege that the Mahadev betting app is being operated under the protection of the prime minister, home minister and chief minister of Chhattisgarh. Will the CBI investigate them?” he asked.

Baghel said that he would meet Congress leaders in Delhi regarding the matter and would also discuss it with the lawyer.

According to an Enforcement Directorate (ED) report, the former Chhattisgarh chief minister was allegedly one of the beneficiaries of the Mahadev Betting scam. The report, which now forms part of the CBI FIR, alleged that Dubai-based promoters Sourabh Chandrakar, Ravi Uppal, Shubham Soni, and Anil Kumar Agrawal operated the Mahadev Online Book, a large-scale online betting network facilitated by massive call centres.

The CBI has taken over the FIR originally registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Chhattisgarh Police, re-registering it under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act. Baghel is listed as accused number six among the 19 persons named in the case, which was registered on December 18, 2024. But the agency officially made the FIR public on Tuesday.

‘No law for gaming’

Baghel said that the central government does not have any law to regulate gambling, and the current 1867 Gaming Act is from the British era.

“The government of India does not have any law for gaming, and today online betting is happening. Our question to the government is whether it considers online gambling legal or illegal,” he said. “If it considers it legal, then it does not raise the question of protection money, and if it is illegal, then how is this Mahadev betting going on? Why was it not stopped? A few days ago, I read in the newspaper that a bet of Rs 40,000 crores had been made,” he said.

“My name is at number six in the FIR. Saurabh Chandra's name is also there, but Shubham Soni's name, who is the owner, is not mentioned in the FIR,” Baghel said.

Baghel said that the work of all the central agencies is to defame him and kill him politically. “Their objective is to give me physical and mental torture, and hence, all this has been done. If they wanted to arrest me, then there was no fear of it. They have done this earlier also,” he said.