Bhupesh Baghel to complain to EC on betting app link allegations

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], November 6 : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel questioned why the Election Commission has not taken cognizance of the allegations against him in the Mahadev app case since elections are ongoing in the state.
"When there was an Election Commission meeting, the ED (Enforcement Directorate), IT (Income Tax) were present in it. Why has the Election Commission not taken cognizance of this? The media is reporting such a grave allegation. So the Election Commission should have taken suo motu cognizance of this," Baghel said speaking at a press conference on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier named the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister after a courier alleged that Rs 508 crores were delivered to Baghel from the promoters of Mahadev app. This allegation has given ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to attack Baghel during their ongoing election campaigns in Chhattisgarh.
Speaking at the press conference Baghel said that his party will send a complaint to the Election Commission for tarnishing his image ahead of the polls.
"A complaint will be sent from us. Investigation should be done for tarnishing someone's image. There are clear directions in the guidelines of the Election Commission that findings of such investigation should not be used by any political party. That is being openly flouted. They (Election Commission) should look into this," he said.
On being asked when the Congress will file a complaint to the poll body, Baghel said, "It will be done today."
Baghel said that an investigation into the Mahadev app has been going on for the last two years and these should be investigated and stopped.
"Investigation of this has been going on for two years. They stopped an app that is not in Playstore on the Indian server...These should be investigated and such groups should be stopped. They are even run on the Telegram channel," the Chief Minister said.
The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said that online betting needs to be banned and the central government should identify the bank accounts and seize the amounts from them.
"Unless online betting is banned, nothing will stop. There are lakhs of fake accounts of those who do online betting on which huge amounts are transacted. Most of these accounts are in national banks. The central government should identify them and close them and seize the amounts," he said.
Baghel claimed that though everyone in Chhattisgarh knows who is the conspirator in the Mahadev app case, the ED has no clue about it.
"Everyone in Chhattisgarh knows that the main conspirator of this fake app is Ravi Uppal and Saurabh Chandrakar. But the ED has no clue about this. Such stories will come on November 17. Do watch and enjoy. The BJP knows it is losing, so it needs Chhattisgarh's mines for its masters," he said.
Speaking to ANI, about the allegations against him, Baghel said, "Enjoy till November 17. It will not affect the elections. I have been saying continuously that the Bharatiya Janata Party is not contesting the polls themselves, they are contesting through the ED and IT."
"When ED has released a press release to defame someone, then the Election Commission should take cognizance of this. The press release was issued by ED and the video was released by BJP...ED is BJP and BJP is ED," he added.
Reacting to Baghel's claims at the press conference, BJP Election Central Committee's Chhattisgarh convenor Siddharth Nath Singh said, "Showing something that has already been going on in public all day long and holding a press conference on it is not a problem. This is Bhupesh. This proved that it is causing pain to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister should answer from where he stole Rs 508 crores."
Meanwhile, BJP MP Sunil Soni said that Mahadev app was born and flourished in Chhattisgarh and Baghel had patronised it.
"Mahadev App was born from here, it has flourished here and when he saw the source of income, he patronized it so that it can flourish further. Shubham Soni has proved this by releasing a video. He met the Chief Minister many times and got the support of the officials and when he started spreading filth in the entire country, Prime Minister Modi decided that the youth of the country should not go in the wrong direction and hence banned it," Soni said.
"If Bhupesh Baghel had even the slightest intention then under Section 69A, it should have been banned as soon as it was born, but he made it a source of income and distributed it to many people in Delhi," he charged.