Ahmedabad : The Gujarat Police’s State Monitoring Cell (SMC) has scored a breakthrough in the state’s biggest cricket betting scandal. Harshit Jain, the key mastermind of the ₹2200-crore Madhupura betting racket. With Jain in custody, investigators are now expected to close in on Saurabh Chandrakar and Amit Majethia, two influential figures linked to the Mahadev betting network.
The Madhupura case has revealed deep-rooted connections between bookies, senior IPS officers, and political circles. On 28 March 2023, Ahmedabad’s PCB (Prevention of Crime Branch) busted the racket during raids at Sumil Complex in Madhupura. The operation uncovered seven mobiles, three laptops, 536 cheque books, 538 debit cards, 14 POS machines, 193 SIM cards, seven PAN cards, 83 company seals, 20 digital signature devices, and ₹3.38 lakh in cash.
The betting was being run using the MetaTrader application on Velocity servers. IDs were distributed to agents, who in turn recruited bettors, creating a multi-layered digital network. Jain had obtained a master betting ID from Deepak Thakkar, another mastermind who was arrested in Dubai in 2024. Police say the ₹2200-crore figure represents only the transactions carried out through Jain’s ID.
The investigation later revealed that Jain’s racket was linked to Saurabh Chandrakar’s Mahadev Bookie empire, which runs India’s largest betting network from Dubai. Interestingly, Thakkar, an eighth-pass from Banaskantha, turned into one of the biggest betting masterminds after dabbling in illegal stock market dabba trading. He built his operation in Ahmedabad using the MetaTrader app before the network expanded into betting.
-
-
-
-
