IT ministry blocks Mahadev betting app, 21 others amid ED probe in Chhattisgarh

The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued blocking orders against 22 illegal betting apps and websites including Mahadev Book Online, which faces money laundering probe in Chhattisgarh, according to a government release issued on Sunday.

The action was taken at the recommendation of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), following its money laundering investigation into and raids at Mahadev Book in Chhattisgarh, the release said.

The orders were issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, which empowers the government to block any content online “in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above”.

The owners of Mahadev Book were arrested in August this year under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

“Chhattisgarh Government had all the power to recommend shutting down of website/app under Sec 69A IT Act. However, they did not do so and no such request is made by the State Government while they have been investigating it for last 1.5 years. In fact, the first and only request has been received from ED and it has been acted upon. Nothing prevented Chhattisgarh Government from making similar requests,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for IT, said, according to the government release.

To be sure, a state government does not have the power to block any content online. The most a state government can do is recommend to the IT Ministry’s Section 69A blocking committee that a website or an app needs to be blocked for national security or public order reasons. It is upto this committee then to recommend blocking to the IT secretary who issues the final blocking order. This is because online content is considered a form of communication which is governed by the central government as per the Union List given in the Seventh Schedule of the Indian constitution.

The ED on Friday alleged that an email statement from a suspect in the alleged Mahadev betting app scam had revealed that promoters of the operation had paid bribes worth ₹508 crore to Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel. It also said that cash worth ₹5.39 crore seized by them from a hotel in Raipur during the raids on Thursday was being delivered for the Congress party’s election expenditure.

Baghel on Friday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Centre, saying that the ED’s claim is a “political attempt to defame” the Congress government in the state.

This also triggered a war of words between the BJP and the Congress during the campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in the state in two phases on November 7 and 17.