Mahadev App Co-Founder Ravi Uppal Arrested In Dubai Days After Sourabh Chandrakar Extradited: Sources

New Delhi: Ravi Uppal, co-founder of the Mahadev betting app, has been arrested in Dubai, sources said on Wednesday, barely a week after his partner Sourabh Chandrakar was extradited to India from Oman.The UAE authorities have not yet officially communicated the arrest to India, sources said. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are now working to bring Uppal back to India at the earliest.An Interpol Red Corner Notice was issued against Uppal in October 2023, and he was detained in Dubai in December that year but released 45 days later.The ED alleges that Uppal managed a hawala network involving hundreds of crores of rupees and was responsible for maintaining contacts with politicians and bureaucrats in Chhattisgarh. The agency has described him as a co-controller of the network and alleges he arranged the transfer of crores into India through hawala channels. In January 2026, assets worth about Rs 21 crore linked to him were attached.According to the ED, Uppal and Chandrakar, both from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, hold Vanuatu passports. The agency alleges the passports were used to evade Indian investigative and legal processes. Vanuatu does not have an extradition treaty with India.The ED now wants to question Uppal to trace the hawala network, the money trail and the beneficiaries of the illegal earnings, sources said.Chandrakar was brought back from Muscat by a special CBI team on Sunday and was to be produced before a special CBI court in Raipur. He is wanted in two CBI cases and one ED case, in all of which chargesheets have been filed.Another accused, Vikas Chhaparia, whom the ED describes as the network's financial manager, is also in Dubai. Efforts are under way to bring him back, sources said.The ED estimates the turnover of the Mahadev network and its associated platforms at Rs 88,000 crore to Rs 94,000 crore. It alleges that Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore was sent out of India to the UAE and other countries. The agency has filed six chargesheets naming 116 accused and has arrested 14 people.