Personnel of the Special Operations Team (SOT) of the Khammam Police Commissionerate in coordination with the local police busted an inter-State cricket betting racket by arresting a total of 25 persons for allegedly betting on T20 matches which were played during the just concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).
The arrested kingpins of the inter-State gang operated the cricket betting racket from a medical store in Venkatapuram village of Yerrupalem mandal in the district through an organised network of bookies and conduits based in various towns in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, police sources said.
About a week ago, the SOT personnel raided a medical store in Venkatapuram and apprehended four members of the gang.
Based on their confession, the SOT nabbed the remaining 25 members of the gang including its alleged kingpin K Sudhakar Reddy, the owner of the medical store, the police said.
Announcing the arrest of the gang members here on Tuesday, Khammam Police Commissioner Tafseer Iqbal said the members of the gang operated the cricket betting racket clandestinely by downloading some illegal mobile applications using smart phones and laptops.
Two laptops, 37 cell phones, three ATM cards, nine each bank cheques and books/registers besides Rs 20,000 cash were seized from the arrested persons.