RAIPUR, India — The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) descended upon the residence of Abhishek Pallav, a high-profile Indian Police Service (IPS) officer turned social media sensation, on March 26, 2025, in a dramatic twist that has left his legion of followers reeling. Known for his khaki-clad charisma and viral Instagram reels, Pallav’s home in Durg, Chhattisgarh, was searched as part of a sprawling investigation into the Mahadev betting app scam—a multi-crore online gambling racket that has ensnared politicians, police, and now, apparently, a cop who once busted crime with a smartphone in one hand and a badge in the other.
Pallav, a 2013-batch IPS officer, wasn’t just another stern face in uniform. He traded the stoic stereotype of law enforcement for a curated online persona that blended Bollywood swagger with small-town relatability. His reels—short, snappy videos often featuring him interrogating petty offenders with a smirk or posing like a budget action hero—catapulted him to fame, amassing a following that rivaled influencers half his age. From grilling a sheepish youth caught inflating condoms into balloons (“What’s this, Holi prep?”) to lecturing traffic violators with the gravitas of a disappointed uncle, Pallav turned policing into performance art. His fans dubbed him the “Reel Singham,” a nod to the bombastic Bollywood cop archetype, minus the slow-motion explosions.
But the script flipped this week when CBI sleuths raided his Sector 9 home in Bhilai, alongside 60 other locations across four states, in a probe tied to the Mahadev app, an illegal betting platform allegedly raking in billions. Pallav, once the hunter sniffing out scams as Durg’s Superintendent of Police, now finds himself the hunted. Sources say the CBI is digging into whether he had ties to the racket he once investigated—or at least turned a blind eye while the app’s operators spun their web under his watch.
The Rise of the Reel Cop
Pallav’s ascent to digital stardom was as unlikely as it was meteoric. A doctor-turned-cop with a psychiatry degree from AIIMS Delhi, he swapped stethoscopes for handcuffs after cracking the UPSC exam in 2012. Posted to Chhattisgarh’s Naxal-infested belts, he earned early praise for his humane approach—once even saving a wounded insurgent’s life mid-operation. But it was in Durg, starting in 2022, where he truly found his spotlight.
His reels were a masterclass in viral alchemy: part public service, part comedy sketch, all swagger. In one clip, he deadpans to a man caught in a spa bust, “Condoms se gubbara banate ho?”—roughly, “Making balloons out of condoms?”—prompting a sheepish grin that launched a thousand memes. Another showed him fining a helmetless biker, quipping, “Your head’s not a coconut, wear something!” X users lapped it up, with one calling him “the only cop I’d let pull me over just to hear the roast.”
His fame wasn’t just about laughs. Pallav’s clips doubled as PR for the police, humanizing a force often seen as distant or brutal. “He made law enforcement look cool,” said a Raipur-based content creator.
“You’d scroll past dance trends and suddenly there’s this guy in uniform schooling someone with sass—it was addictive.”
When news of the raid broke, X erupted in a chaotic mix of shock, snark, and schadenfreude. “Abhishek Pallav went from Reel Singham to Real Sting-em,” posted
@Pip_Quips, imagining him “sweating under CBI lights like tikka on a skewer.”
The Mahadev scam, named after a shadowy gambling app, has already toppled big names—former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel among them. Pallav’s role, if any, remains murky. Was he a cog in the machine, or just a cop caught in the crossfire? The CBI isn’t talking, but the raid suggests they’ve got more than a hunch.
For now, Pallav’s reel-making days are on pause. Once a symbol of law’s lighter side, he’s now a cautionary tale of how fame can flirt with infamy. As one X user put it, “He played the game of reels and got raided by the real deal.”
In Chhattisgarh, where jungle battles and betting rackets collide, Abhishek Pallav’s story is still unfolding—less a reel now, more a gritty docudrama. The CBI’s next move will decide if he’s the star or the villain. Until then, X will keep buzzing, equal parts jury and jester.