New Delhi:
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had been accused of taking Rs 508 crore in the Mahadev betting app case by an alleged courier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. But the ‘courier’, Asim Das, has now backtracked and claimed that he never delivered cash to politicians and has been framed.
Das was arrested with over Rs 5 crore in cash on November 3, four days ahead of the first phase of Chhattisgarh assembly elections. ED said that Das claimed to be a courier and also said that the promoters of the Mahadev Betting app had made payments of Rs 508 crore to Mr Baghel. The probe agency had said that the startling allegations were a matter of investigation.
But Das has denied making any such allegations. In a letter written from jail to the Director of ED, Das said that he was being framed and officials had coerced into signing a statement in English, a language he does not understand.
In the letter, he claimed that Shubham Soni, the mastermind behind the illegal app, was his childhood friend. He had visited Dubai twice in October this year on Soni’s insistence.
Das wrote that Soni was interested in starting a construction business in Chhattisgarh and asked him to work for him. The Mahadev promoter promised to arrange money for the business.
“On the day I landed at the Raipur airport, I was asked to pick up a car and check into a hotel on VIP Road. I was told to park the car at a specific spot, where a person later put bags of cash in the vehicle and left,” he wrote.
“I was asked over the phone to go back to my hotel room and after some time ED officials came to my room and took me with them. Later, I realized that I am being implicated. I have never supplied money or any other assistance to any political leaders or workers,” Mr Das wrote.
The Mahadev app came under the crosshairs of probe agencies after a Rs 200-crore wedding in the UAE in February, paid for entirely in cash.
One of the accused, arrested by ED, had earlier claimed that police, politicians, and bureaucrats were given a stake in the app to keep the betting and hawala syndicate running.
Top Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, who have appeared in ads for the app, are also being questioned by the ED.