CBI Extradites Mahadev Founder From Oman as Raipur Court Takes Over the Case

The Fight Is Over What Oman Actually Handed Over

On 2 November, the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi ordered Chandrakar to be kept under two days of transit remand, despite protest from his lawyer Tushar Giri. Giri said that the CBI’s arrests were illegal, as the extradition treaty between India and Oman only allowed Chandrakar to be tried for money-laundering charges. The Omani courts that ordered his extradition made no mention of CBI investigations, he added.

Chandrakar promoted Mahadev Online Book, which CBI says was one of India’s largest illegal betting syndicates. The syndicate allegedly had card, football and cricket betting and took bets through franchises called "panels" and "branches". According to CBI, the syndicate laundered its betting proceeds through multiple bank accounts and sent the money through hawala operators overseas. Royal Oman Police arrested him on an Interpol Red Corner Notice.

Chandrakar has been made an accused in two CBI cases with charge sheets filed and one ED case with a prosecution complaint filed. The charges run under the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Indian Penal Code sections on forgery, cheating, and conspiracy. The CBI case is related to an alleged betting syndicate run by Chandrakar. The ED case is related to alleged money-laundering activities of the syndicate.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Nikhil Chopra declined to rule on whether the case breaches the extradition exceptions set out under Indian law. "The question of whether or not the present case falls within the said exceptions cannot be determined at this stage," wrote Judge Nikhil Chopra. He noted the ED case arises from the predicate CBI offence, RC No. RPZO/10/2022.

He ordered the speciality doctrine dispute heard in Raipur, where the CBI brought Chandrakar on 3 November to appear before the Special CBI Judge. Legal liability for creators of platforms continues to be debated across the globe, as Utah’s 14-count case against prediction-market founders showed last week.

The Headline Number Is an Estimate, Not a Seizure

The figure comes from the complaints lodged with the Enforcement Directorate, including the sixth one filed in Raipur on 24 September. That complaint, the ED’s sixth, gave an estimate of about 94,400 crore rupees, and the agency called it a provisional figure. The CBI’s 1 November press note, which 15M went through line by line, contains no figures to that effect.

The ED has attached or seized assets of 2,104 crore rupees, about $222m. That is 2.2% of the estimate, a 15M calculation dividing the seizure total by the provisional figure. Wire copy meanwhile sizes the case at 6,000 crore rupees, roughly $632m.

Within the estimate, the ED puts 75,000 to 80,000 crore rupees on the Mahadev app itself since 2019. Sister sites Skyexchange and Lotus365 account for the rest. Six chargesheets name 116 accused, and 14 people have been arrested by the ED.

Source: Central Bureau of Investigation statement of 1 November 2026, reproduced verbatim by ANI, https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/cbi-extradites-mahadev-app-kingpin-sourabh-chandrakar-from-oman20261101194805/