The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday conducted searches in 60 locations across the country, including properties belonging to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in connection with the alleged Mahadev betting app case, ANI reported. Simultaneous searches were being conducted at locations in Chhattisgarh, Bhopal, Kolkata and Delhi at premises belonging to politicians, senior bureaucrats, police officers, key functionaries of the app and others suspected to be involved in the matter, the agency said. Mahadev Online Book, a betting app, reportedly enabled illegal betting on games such as poker, cricket, tennis and football as well as on elections in India. In November 2023, the Union government issued orders blocking the app. In March 2024, the Chhattisgarh Police filed a first information report naming Baghel as an accused in the Mahadev betting app case. According to the FIR, the Mahadev app and its associate companies illegally collected Rs 450 crore worth of proceeds of crime every month. In August, the Chhattisgarh government transferred the probe in the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. “Now CBI has come,” Bhupesh Baghel’s office said on social media on Wednesday. It added that the Congress leader was scheduled to go to Delhi for an organisational meeting of the party. “Even before that, CBI has reached Raipur and Bhilai residence.” In January 2024, the Enforcement Directorate also named Baghel in a supplementary chargesheet related to allegations of receiving bribes amounting to approximately Rs 508 crore from the promoters of the Mahadev App. On his part, Bhupesh Baghel had maintained that the investigation was “politically motivated”. On Tuesday, the Central Bureau of Investigation claimed that its investigations revealed the promoters of the app allegedly paid substantial amounts as “protection money” to public servants “to ensure the smooth and uninterrupted functioning of their illegal betting network”, ANI reported. The raids came days after the Enforcement Directorate on March 10 searched 14 locations in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district linked to Chaitanya Baghel, the Congress leader’s son, in connection with another alleged Rs 2,000-crore liquor scam.