New Delhi/Raipur: The ED on Wednesday alleged that the arrested assistant sub-inspector of the Chhattisgarh Police used his "relationship" with a political advisor of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and hawala funds received from Dubai to influence high-ranking officials and politicians connected to the CMO.
The agency made these allegations in a statement issued after it arrested four people, including ASI Chandrabhushan Verma, alleged hawala operator brothers Anil and Sunil Dammani and a man identified as Satish Chandrakar in a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal betting app called 'Mahadev Online Book'.
The Enforcement Directorate further alleged that these arrested accused have "specifically named high-ranking officials connected to the CMO who have received hefty kickbacks on monthly/regular basis." The agency raided Baghel's political advisor Vinod Verma and two Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) in the state capital Raipur and Durg on Wednesday.
Soon after the searches began, Baghel, who turned 62 on Wednesday, posted a sarcastic message on X. "Respected Prime Minister and Mr Amit Shah! Thank you very much for the priceless gift you have given me on my birthday by sending ED to my political advisor, OSD and close aides," the chief minister wrote on the microblogging site. The four who have been arrested were raided by the ED on August 21.
According to the ED, the probe has found that around Rs 65 crore cash was received by ASI Chandrabhushan Verma. He kept his cut and distributed the rest as bribes to senior police officers and politicians, it claimed. "Although ASI Verma is not a very senior officer in the police hierarchy, through his relationship with Vinod Verma (political advisor to the chief minister) and with the money power received from kickbacks sent by Ravi Uppal (a Dubai-based man who allegedly ran the betting app), he managed to influence senior officers."
"ASI Verma has admitted before ED that he was receiving and paying monthly bribes to many people in power," the ED claimed. The policeman has "admitted" that bribe payments were enhanced after some action was taken by police against the betting app's operation in May 2022, it said. "The bribes were enhanced to water down the cases, to include non-bailable offences and to restrict prosecution up to local punters and to prevent future action on their operations," the federal agency charged.
The arrested accused have admitted to their role and have given a trail of the bribes and a list of beneficiaries, it said. The ED produced the four persons before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Raipur following which they were sent to its custody for six days. ASI Verma was acting as the main liaison in Chhattisgarh and he along with Satish Chandrakar was receiving "hefty money monthly via hawala from Dubai-based promoters of Mahadev Online Book. They were distributing the same to senior police officers and leaders politically connected to the Chief Minister's Office as protection money", the probe agency alleged.
It claimed that despite observing the disastrous effect of illegal betting on the youth and economy, the state police and politicians kept their eyes shut to all these operations. "The youths of Bhilai thronged to Dubai in huge numbers and after gaining experience in running back-end operations would come back to India and open their own panels (for betting)," the ED said.
The money laundering case stems from multiple FIRs filed by the Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh (Vishakhapatnam) and some other state police units against the app that provides online platforms for illegal betting in different live games like poker, card games, chance games, cricket, badminton, tennis and football.
It even allowed placing bets on different elections in India. The ED said Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, who hail from Bhilai -- a city in Durg district -- are the "main promoters" of the app and are running their operations from Dubai. (PTI)
