Online betting fraud: Noida cops arrest 17th suspect in Mahadev Book app scam

The Noida police on Friday said they have nabbed a man in connection with a major online betting fraud, taking the number of arrests in the case to 17.

According to police, Sachin Soni, a native of Jhansi, was a key member of the gang that used the Mahadev Book betting app to dupe people to the tune of more than ₹4,000 crore.

The gang lured people into placing bets through their app and gave them a surplus sum on their bets. But once a user placed a bet of bigger amount, they would take it all and would vanish, the police said.

"Accused Sachin Soni was arrested from a flat in Golden Palms society in Sector 168 where he had been hiding for the past few days. One laptop, one smartphone, five forged Aadhar cards, and a house rent agreement have been seized from his possession," a police spokesperson said.

The police had earlier on Monday arrested 16 people from a four-storey house in Sector 108 as it busted the fraudulent online betting app being operated from there.

The police had also seized 12 laptops, 73 smart phones, 19 cheque books, six passbooks, 90 ATM cards, 58 sim card, six passports, two SUVs, and some key documents in the action.

A senior police officer said that investigation revealed that the mastermind behind the Mahadev Book app is Saurabh Chandrakar whose operations in India are handled by different people in different cities.

According to police, the gang had a network in around 11 countries and is estimated to have been making ₹250-300 crore fraudulently every month on average. The total defrauded amount has been pegged to have gone above 4,000 crore so far, they said.

Further investigation in the case is underway, the police added.