Exclusive | Key documents reveal plans to shift Mahadev app operations out of India

Republic has got its hands on documents which prove that the Mahadev online betting app owners had elaborate plans to shift their operations out of India.

Through the investigation, Republic has accessed the documents which Shubham Soni, the man claiming to be the real owner of the app, mentioned in his confession video.

The documents, which bear Soni's signatures, prove that the owners registered the company in the Caribbean, Kingston in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to be specific. According to the document, Soni was appointed as the director of the Mahadev app in 2021 whereas the company was operational a few years earlier.

Soni is one of the key characters in the Mahadev betting scam who was stung by Republic. He alleged that it was Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel who advised him to shift the business to Dubai and that the latter was paid Rs 508 crore as a bribe.

The same allegation was made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) who flagged Baghel's involvement in the case last week.

"I have paid Rs 508 crore to Baghel Ji and his men and still there is so much disturbance in my work," Soni said in his video. 

The CM, however, rejected the allegations and called it an attempt to malign his image before the elections scheduled to take place in two phases on November 7 and 17. 

Earlier on November 4, the ED seized Rs 5.39 crore and froze Rs 15.59 crore in an account linked to the Mahadev betting app scam. Sources said that the money was brought into India from the UAE to pay for the election expenses of a political party.