One more gang operating a cricket betting racket was busted by the Hyderabad police on Thursday. Three persons were arrested and Rs. 1.2 lakh seized from them.
The gang comprising V. Rama Raju, K. Srinivasa Rao and V. Prudhvi Raju, had been organising betting on cricket matches for the past two years, the West Zone DCP G. Sudheer Babu said at a press conference.
Five persons operating cricket betting in a similar fashion were arrested by the West Zone police six days ago.
Raju and Rao were found accepting bets from punters on the IPL cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Pune Warriors on Wednesday when the West Zone special police party raided a building in Jubilee Hills.
“Interestingly, this gang was paying punters money through banks,” the DCP said.
Investigators are writing to the banks concerned seeking further information on the transactions. The duo hailing from East Godavari district was originally into chit fund business. Having suffered losses, they started organising cricket betting.
They purchased a telephone line box – which can be used as mini telephone exchange by connecting it to 20 mobile phones simultaneously - from Mumbai. They would sit in a building in Jubilee Hills, watch the cricket match and announce to the punters through the link box how the match is progressing and invite bets. So far they organised betting on 150 cricket matches. The gang used to earn Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh on each match.
