Meet the fugitive who slipped the net in the Mahadev app betting scandal

While Sourabh Chandrakar may soon be extradited from Oman, Ravi Uppal, another main accused in the Rs 6,000-crore Mahadev Betting App case, is still missing. Uppal is believed to have helped set up and operate one of India’s biggest illegal betting networks. He has been on the run since late 2025, and investigators think he is hiding in Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation that does not have an extradition treaty with India.

Uppal, who is also from Chhattisgarh, like Chandrakar, is named by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as a main accused in the money-laundering investigation connected to the Mahadev Online Book platform. The app reportedly made Rs 200-240 crore each day from illegal betting on sports, cards, poker, and even elections. The total proceeds of crime are estimated at Rs 6,000 crore. Uppal was briefly detained in Dubai in December 2023 after the ED requested an Interpol Red Notice.

He was released and managed to escape. By November 2025, UAE authorities told Indian agencies that he had left the country, and investigators later found he had gone to Vanuatu. This move has made India’s efforts to bring him back much harder, since Vanuatu does not have an extradition agreement with India. Despite his disappearance, the ED kept up its actions against him.

In January 2026, they attached a Dubai property owned by Uppal, valued at about Rs 6.75 crore, as part of new provisional attachments totalling over Rs 21 crore in the case. In November 2025, the Supreme Court directed the ED to find and secure Uppal, expressing strong displeasure at how accused persons treat courts and investigators.

The agency has also tried to declare him a Fugitive Economic Offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, but the matter is still in court. Sourabh Chandrakar’s recent detention in Oman is a sharp contrast to Uppal’s situation.

Chandrakar was briefly held in the UAE in 2024 but managed to avoid further action. A few weeks ago, Omani police caught him while he was allegedly travelling on a fake passport. He is now being held in Muscat’s high-security Al Khoud detention centre. India has already sent a formal extradition request and hopes to bring him back. 

However, he has not yet been extradited. Reports say he appealed to Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Files to remove the Red Notice against him, claiming it was politically motivated. Like Chandrakar, Uppal is named in several ED charge sheets in the case, which also includes allegations of links to politicians in Chhattisgarh. The ED and CBI have thoroughly investigated the Mahadev case, conducting over 175 searches, attaching assets worth more than Rs 1,700 crore, and arresting 13 people so far. Still, Uppal’s continued freedom shows how hard it is to bring back accused people who move to countries with little cooperation.

Investigators believe that with Chandrakar now in custody abroad, new information could emerge during his questioning once he is brought back to India. This could help locate Uppal and reveal more about the network of people and hawala channels behind the syndicate. But this case still underscores the challenge of bringing high-profile economic offenders to justice when they exploit safe havens beyond India’s immediate reach.