The first betting racket pertaining to the latest season of the Indian Premier League tournament was busted on Sunday evening with the arrest of four accused by the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch.
Acting on a tip-off, the Crime Branch officials got an informer to contact the accused as an interested punter, following which the police officials received the contact number of the accused. Using the cellular location of the contact number, Senior Police Inspector Jagdish Kulkarni from the Central unit, along with his team, raided the Krishnakunj building in Sector 12 in New Panvel on Sunday evening and arrested four accused. They have been identified as Imran Yunusbhai Dhani (27), Jayesh Haribhai Kariya alias Shyam (28), Aashirwad Madhukar Mhaske (24) and Sandeep Ramchandra Yadav (41). They allegedly accepted bets on the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The police said Kariya, who is said to be the main accused, was responsible for accepting bets while Dhanani and Mhaske would keep records of amounts pledged by each punter. Yadav managed the finances at the end of the match and calculated the money won and lost by the punters.
Navi Mumbai, 18/04/2017 Crime Branch arrest 4 persons for illegal betting on IPL Cricket Match between kolkatta Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad from Panvel in Navi Mumbai. Photo By- Yogesh Mhatre
Closed group, code names
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dilip Sawant said, “The racket was operating within a closed group of about 25 people. Every caller had a unique code name, which was either a group of few letters or a number. The punters had to mention the code names before placing their bet.”
The accused had set up their betting den at a 2-BHK rented apartment which they had rented for ₹10,000. The police have recovered a laptop, a TV, a set top box, 18 cell phones and three registers in which records were maintained.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Nitin Kausdikar said, “Kariya was heading the racket and the others worked under him for a monthly salary of ₹8,000. Kariya’s accomplice is absconding and we are looking for him. We will also see what action can be taken against the people who participated in the betting.”
Kariya, who hails from Gujarat, had come to Panvel two years ago and was working in a relative’s shop that manufactured pillows and beds. The other accused were unemployed and stayed in Panvel.
Fake identities used
Police Inspector Krishna Kokani from the Central Unit said, “The racket has been operating since the beginning of the IPL season, and the accused accepted bets worth around ₹10 lakh every day. The transactions were supposed to be made through hawala channels, and since we arrested the accused before that, no money was recovered in the raid.”
The police have also found that SIM cards were obtained under fake identities for the cell phones recovered from the accused.
“It is evident that the accused had used fake documents to obtain 18 prepaid SIM cards and we have booked them for forgery as well. We will be further investigating to find how they obtained the fake documents,” Mr. Sawant said.
The accused have been arrested under Sections 3 and 5 of Gambling Act and Sections 420, 467, 468 and 469 of the Indian Penal Code and were produced before the court on Monday. They have been remanded in police custody till April 21.
