Raipur: In the latest development in the multi-crore Mahadev app scam, a courier has retracted his statement against Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Bhagel and other politicians.
“Das had written a letter from the jail to the Director of the ED and also sent copies to higher authorities including the Prime Minister’s Office on November 17 stating that he was being implicated in the case and the central investigating agency forced him to sign a statement in English, a language he does not understand,” lawyer Shoaib Alvi said.
Das and constable Bhim Singh Yadav were arrested by the ED on November 3. The duo were on Friday produced before Ajay Singh Rajput, a special judge for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases. The court extended their judicial custody for seven days.
Asim Das in his letter said he had visited Dubai twice in October this year after being called by Shubham Soni, a childhood friend. The trips were arranged by Soni, he said. Soni is one of the key accused in the case, as per the ED. ED started investigating the Mahadev Book Online Betting App syndicate in July 2022 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), alleging that the promoters of the app – identified as Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal – are based overseas and remotely ran illegal betting operations with proceeds of crimes running into several thousand crores.
In the letter, Das said that Soni wanted to start a construction business in Chhattisgarh and asked Das to work for him.
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