New Delhi: White-collar crime accused cannot be allowed to treat courts and probe agencies as “instruments to play around with”, the Supreme Court observed while directing the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to trace and secure Ravi Uppal, the absconding co-founder of the Mahadev betting app.
Uppal, who is evading law enforcement agencies in India, reportedly fled Dubai, where he was under surveillance, to an undisclosed location forcing the UAE authorities to initiate steps for closure of his extradition proceedings.
Taking serious note of Uppal’s evading the law enforcement agencies the bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said: “This shocks our conscience and the court has to do something about it.”
“For kingpins like him, the courts and investigating agencies are mere instruments to play around with. We have to do something about it,” the Court said.
“We will dismiss his petition. Find out how to secure him. He seems to be quite resourceful, flying from one place to the other,” the Court further observed.
The SC was hearing a plea by Uppal, challenging a Chhattisgarh High Court order of March 22, directing him to join the trial in the money laundering case pending before a Raipur trial court.
Uppal seems to have fled from Dubai, where he was detained in 2023, additional Solicitor General S V Raju said on the ED’s behalf.
Those involved in financial crimes often try to flee to locations that have no extradition treaties with India as the UAE has, Raju informed the Court.
“You can be extradited from the UAE as India has an extradition treaty with them. So, he may have gone to locations like the British Virgin Islands as India does not have an extradition treaty with that country,” the ASG said.
Uppal’s counsel sought time and the matter was posted for hearing again on November 14. The bench, however, told the lawyer to convince his client to return to India and face the proceedings.
“He cannot keep running all the time. He has to participate in this process. In matters of granting bail, we are liberal. We will consider his bail application at the appropriate stage,” Justice Sundresh said.
The Court also asked Raju to examine whether the recent verdict of the Apex court, allowing the summoning of lawyers by probe agencies under exceptional circumstances, can be used to get details of those absconding the law.
No more adjournment will be granted in this matter, the Court told Uppal’s lawyer.
The ED, which is probing the Mahadev betting app case, write to the UAE authorities in 2024, seeking extradition after Uppal was detained in Dubai in December 2023 due to an Interpol red notice. The UAE authorities had later released Uppal but he was kept under surveillance.
According to probe agencies, Uppal along with his associate Sourabh Chandrakar found the Mahadev betting app in 2018 allowing multiple platforms and apps to place illegal bets on online games. The scam is worth Rs 6,000 crore and it spread to different states across the country, investigation has revealed.
His associate Chandrakar was arrested in Dubai in October 2024 and the extradition request against him is still pending.
A probe by the Chhattisgarh Police had named former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as an accused and the matter was transferred to the CBI for further investigation.
