The Mahadev app case is a high-profile scandal involving an online betting platform that enabled illegal gambling on various games, such as poker, card games, badminton, tennis, football, and cricket. The app was run by Dubai-based Saurabh Chandrakar, who was a former juice seller, and his accomplice Ravi Uppal, both of whom hail from Chhattisgarh. The app was developed by Indian and European coders and was launched during the pandemic lockdown in 2020. Since then, the business grew massively and Chandrakar had around 2,000 centers. The Mahadev app was being run from Dubai and used an online book betting application to enroll new users and launder money through a layer of benami bank accounts. Chandrakar and Uppal are suspected of amassing around Rs 5,000 crore through the Mahadev app. The operations also involved rigging of games to ensure profits for panel owners and heavy losses for players. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel received Rs 508 crore from the app promoters based in the UAE, triggering a political row ahead of the state Assembly polls. Several Bollywood celebrities, including Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Huma Qureshi, and Kapil Sharma, were summoned by the ED for questioning in the case. The ED has arrested the owners of the Mahadev Book app under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and they are facing charges for the commission of the offense of money laundering section 3, punishable under section 4 of PMLA, 2002.