Five days after Republic TV stung key players in the Mahadev App case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tightened the noose around the protagonist in the case. In a Republic Impact, IPS Abhishek Pallava was summoned by the ED in Raipur today. The Enforcement Directorate questioned the IPS officer on the expose that Republic had done via its sting operation. It was not just Abhishek Pallava but also IPS Prashant Agarwal who has been asked to appear on November 10. It was on 6th of November 2023 when in a letter written to Republic Media Network, the ED had requested to share the sting tapes which would play a pivotal role in the ongoing Mahadev betting probe.

REPUBLIC EXPOSE ON ABHISHEK PALLAVA'S ROLE

Abhishek Pallava was SP of Bhilai district from 2021-22 who probed the Mahadev scam especially at a time when the operation was at peak. The IPS officer had revealed in a sting by Republic, that the scam in Chhattisgarh was a "police-guided operation." He is the first officer to sniff out the multi-crore betting scam. "This was a police-led, police-guided operation. There was less part of the administration to play in this scam (but) the role of administration comes when there is the issue of clearance and permission," Pallav said to Republic TV, admitting the scam happened with Chhattisgarh link.

The SP currently posted in Kawardha revealed that the nexus includes police constables as well as ASI-level officers. One such constable was Saidev whom Pallav suspended after learning about his role in running 3 panels for the Mahadev app in Nagpur. "I instructed Prabhat to deal with it. Then Prabhat checked his (Saidev) wife's bank account and we found that there was a 3.5 crore transaction between her and his sister. Then I got calls saying, 'Don't suspend him. He is our man'," said the SP alleging that some policemen made millions out of the scam.

WHO IS IPS PRASHANT AGARWAL?

A few days back, a video was released by a man claiming to be Shubham Soni - owner of the Mahadev app. In his ‘testimony’, he had alleged that he met Chief Minister Baghel, who asked him to negotiate with IPS Prashant Agarwal a top cop if he wanted members of the Mahadev app to be out of jail.

"Chief Minister Baghel has a habit of turning his back. I have faced this too. When he sent me to Dubai and asked me to meet people and settle my job, I met people, and my work was settled. After that I started facing troubles. My people were jailed, they were not freed despite making several calls. I then called Verma ji and he asked me to go back to Bhilai where he would arrange another meeting. I was scared but I did reach Bhilai. Verma ji and Girish met me at the Raipur airport road. Verma ji dropped down there but it was Girish Tiwari who took me ahead and made me meet the then SP Prashant Agarwal and told him my problem. He made some phone calls and had a word. The phone was on speaker,, so I understood that the person he dialed was the Chief Minister. So, then the Chief Minister had a word with me where he said that he had sent me to Dubai to settle the work,, but I became my boss. I couldn't say a thing, I was upset. I told him that I am a small player and told him that I would do anything that he says. He (chief minister) asked me to speak to Prashant ji and then I left from that place. After that I finalized the deal with Prashant ji and I have mentioned the same in my written statement too'' man claiming to be Shubham Soni alleged.