Chhattisgarh CM accuses Bhupesh Baghel of taking "protection money" in Mahadev betting app scam

New Delhi [India], April 12 (ANI): Reacting to the allegations of Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel that "BJP is conspiring against him," Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai called the allegations "wrong and baseless" and said that the latter is allegedly "accused of taking protection money" in the Mahadev betting app scam.
"What Bhupesh Baghel said that the BJP wants to assassinate him politically and the case of Mahadev Betting app is a conspiracy is completely wrong and baseless. The investigations have taken place, whether it is the coal scam. His people were involved in the coal scam and are in jail. In the liquor scam, his people are in jail. In the Mahadev Betting app scam, he is accused of taking protection money. If all this is a lie, then why are his people not getting the bail? He should not say that something unfair is happening to him," Sai said in an interview with ANI.
Reacting to Baghel's "conspiracy" remarks, Sai said, "During his regime, there used to be two counters at liquor shops. The accounts of one counter used to go to the government, and the accounts of the other counter went to his ministers."
He further reacted to the religious conversion issue and said that Religious conversion is 'Kalank' for the state.
"Religious conversion is like 'kalank' for Chhattisgarh. In the area I come from, Jashpur, there are very missionaries. A lot of religious conversions used to take place as they used to take advantage of people's poverty. After we formed the government, we have restricted this, but now they started doing Changai Sabha. They claim that they will free the people from the disease. This is done by a Christian missionary," he added.
When asked about the actions taken by the government on the protection of journalists, he said in the Bijapur journalist attack case, the government actively arrested the accused and took action.
"In the previous government, journalists were attacked but our government has given them protection. No such incident has happened after our government came to power. In one of the incidents in Bijapur where the journalist was attacked the state government immediately took action and arrested the accused," CM Sai said.
On the minining issue he said that Chhattisgarh is very rich in terms of mineral wealth.
"There is iron ore, coal, tin, gold, diamond... The situation of mining mafias is not like that anymore, it has improved a lot. Now everything is going well," the Chhattisarh CM said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Bhagel as one of the accused in the Mahadev Betting app case.
On April 1, the CBI made public its first information report (FIR) in connection with the Mahadev online betting app case.
According to the FIR a total of 21 people have been named as accused including; Ravi Uppal, Shubham Soni (Pintu), Chandra Vhushan Verma, Assem Das, Satish Chandrakar, Nitish Deewan, Saurabh Chandrakar, Anil Agarwal (Atul Agarwal) Vikas Chhapriya, Rohit Gaulati, Vishal Ahuja, Dheeraj Ahuja, Anil Kumar Dammani, Sunil Kumar Dammani, Bhim Singh Yadav, Harishankar Tibarwal, Surendra Bagi, Suraj Chokhani and two other unknown persons, including a police officer.
The CBI has charged the accused with Sections 120 (B), 420, 467, 468 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC); Sections 11, 7, 8, 4 of the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Act, 2002, and Section 4 (A) of the Public Gambling Act.
On March 26, the investigative agency also conducted a 14-hour search at the residence of former CM Bhupesh Bhagel, confiscating three phones.
The FIR, originally received on March 4, 2024 alleges that Mahadev Online Book is operating betting services illegally. The complaint also alleged that other websites are also being operated in association with the promoters of the Mahadev betting app, naming "skyexchange," which is allegedly being operated by Hari Shankar Tibrewal in association with Mahadev Online Book.
The complaint alleges that Mahadev platform provides illegal betting services in different "live games" including poker, card games, chance games, betting on sports. The app rose to significance five years ago, in 2019-2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown. (ANI)