The Anantapur police on Thursday claimed to have busted a major cricket betting gang led by Sayed Javed Khadri, and arrested him along with nine of his accomplices.
Superintendent of Police B. Satya Yesu Babu said that the Tadipatri and Dharmavaram sub-division police personnel in a joint operation confiscated 33 cellphones, 2.125 kg of ganja, communicator box, two laptops and a microphone.
There are 20 cases of murder, attempt to murder, cricket betting, and arson pending against Javed Khadri, 38, of Tadipatri, the SP said. Cases of cricket betting and transportation or possession of ganja are pending against the other members of the gang.
The accused have been identified as Lakshminarayana, 43, Venkateswara Reddy, 32, Gandikota Hazibasha, 30, all from Tadipatri; S. Kiran Kumar, 38, of HLC colony in Anantapur; J. Viswanatha Reddy, 38, of Gotlur in Dharmavaram mandal; and J. Appuswamy, 36, E. Sandeep, 31, J. Suresh and J. Naresh, 38 all hailing from Gantapuram village.
The gang was allegedly working with support from another cricket bookie don Proddutur Narasimha, the SP said and added that with the help of the communicator box, he could simultaneously connect with 26 phones and accept betting from punters.
The accused are alleged to have indulged in heavy betting in IPL, World Cup and Karnataka Premier League. On Wednesday and Thursday, they were allegedly engaged in betting in the KPL in Bellary vs Belagavi and Mysore vs Belagavi matches. Tadipatri DSP A. Srinivasulu and Dharmavaram DSP Ramakanth jointly organised the raids.
