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The Mahadev betting app case involving Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is getting curiouser. Over the past week, there have been enough twists and turns in it than an Agatha Christie play. With new characters, videos, drivers and attendants popping up with their set pieces. The BJP has released a video by one Shubham Soni, who claims to be the owner of the online gaming operation. He also adds for good measure that prime accused Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal work for him; all three live in Dubai.

Soni alleges that he knows Baghel and his advisers very well. He says that he has given Rs 508 crore to Baghel through 2008 IPS officer Prahant Agarwal and one Verma. He claims he met the CM in the presence of one Bittu Bhaiyya following which he went to Dubai in September 2020 on the advise of the CM. He claims he had explained to Baghel about the Mahadev App and the CM said he should operate from Dubai. Later, when he ran into problems with the law, Baghel helped again by calling up Agarwal to sort them out.

On the other hand, the Congress released a statement claiming that the car seized from Asim Das with Rs 5 crore allegedly sent from Dubai through hawala channels belongs to MLA Brijmohan Agarwal’s brother. Das had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) more than a week ago. Thus, the Congress alleges it is all a fixed match being played out to discredit the CM. Baghel, on his part, said Soni has been tortured to make this false statement.

A TV reporter now jumped into this pot with her sting operation. She met Abhishek Pallav, the Durg SP.  Pallav claimed in the recorded conversation that Baghel definitely knew about the Satta racket and Agarwal too is to blame for protecting the trio. He also reveals he had arrested some 450 people following instructions from top. This may have been done to wipe out the trail leading to important people. For the record, these 450 under arrest are satta players and not operators.

Now, the scene that is being built up is very interesting, both politically and legally. Mahadev App has been banned by the Government of India and money from it is obviously “proceeds of a crime”. The link from it is being established to reach Baghel through statements from Soni and an email allegedly from Saurabh Chandrakar from Dubai suggesting that the money was meant for Baghel and elections. So, legally, Baghel is in for a tough time like former Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia. In Sisodia’s case too, it has not been established that he was the ultimate beneficiary of the excise scam money nor any money found on him but it has been enough to keep him in jail for the past several months.

The Mahadev App episode may or may not impact voting patterns in the ongoing elections but it has great weight as a political tool. It appears the more the noise over the app, the more credibility Baghel stands to lose both within and outside the party. If he is indeed arrested or called for questioning, it will probably be after the second and last phase of polling on November 17 in the state.

He may not be called in at all too but the BJP’s attempt will be to pin him down with this. Baghel claims to be the only OBC face of the Congress and the BJP would not like him to be in the fray in 2024. So this Mahadev App investigation is important not for now alone but its after-effects will reverberate till next year.