The Cyberabad police said that the kingpin of the betting racket — Pandu, a resident of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh — is absconding.
Published Apr 11, 2023 | 6:25 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 11, 2023 | 6:25 PM
The Cyberabad police on 10 April busted a cricket betting racket during the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). (@IPL/Twitter)
The Cyberabad Police on Tuesday, 11 April, said that it had busted an alleged online Indian Premiere League (IPL) cricket betting racket and arrested 10 bookies.
The cops raided a house in Bachupally during the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday.
Total property worth ₹1 crore was seized from the accused, including ₹60.39 lakh in cash and ₹5.89 lakh in the bank.
Based on a tip, the Special Operations Team (SOT) of the Balanagar zone and cops from the Bachupally Police Station jointly raided a house at Sai Anurag Colony in Bachupally
“IPL cricket betting was being organised there by bookies during the match between RCB and LSG. Over the past few weeks, we had been closely monitoring the cricket betting rackets,” Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra told reporters.
The cops seized three line boards, eight laptops, three TVs, eight keypad phones, two CPUs, several keyboards, monitor set-top boxes, headsets, Wi-Fi routers, printers, microphones, 10 smartphones, and three two-wheelers during the raid.
While six of the arrested accused are residents of Hyderabad, four are from Andhra Pradesh.
However, the kingpin of the racket — Pandu, a resident of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh — is said to be absconding.
The 10 arrested were identified as Y Venkata Krishna, Singmaneni Kiran Kumar, Nandam Srinivas Babu, Kadiyala Mahesh, Chereddy Kasi, and Addepalli Prathap Kumar from Hyderabad, and K Vijay Kumar, G Srikanth, AVinay and B Venkata Ratna Kumar from Andhra Pradesh.
The cops booked them under Sections 3 and 4 (punishment for gaming in a common gaming house) of the 1974 Telangana State Gaming Act.
As per the Cyberabad police, some people have been lured to cricket betting due to digitalisation and to make quick money.
“This is a vicious cycle which leads to constant addiction to betting money. Due to the loss of money in betting and to repay the bookies, the victims are taking hand loans, selling property, and resorting to other extreme steps. Ultimately the bookie only makes money while punters lose money,” the cops said.
The police added that during betting, cyber theft of data pertaining to bank accounts and other personal data is possible.
“It may result in unauthorized money transfer and blackmailing using personal photos,” the police said.
Meanwhile, information about betting can be shared on the Cyberabad Police WhatsApp number 9490617444.
