‘Cricket betting racket’ busted in Vijayawada

₹16 lakh in cash and several gadgets were seized from the accused

Police Commissioner Ch. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao inspecting the seized cash, in Vijayawada on Wednesday.

The city police allegedly busted a cricket betting gang that was operating from a house in Maruthi Nagar under Machavaram police station limits.

Four persons were arrested and a locally built console comprising 20 feature phones and controls, ₹16 lakh in cash, two laptops, a television set and 16 mobile phones were seized from the accused.

Commissioner of Police Ch. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, at a press conference, said that the accused Paila Prasad (33), Madheti Mohan Krishna (37) and Undi Sarath Chandra (25) from the city and Siribathula Kalyan Chakravarthi (37) of West Godavari district took a house on rent in Maruthi Nagar and started betting to earn easy money.

Prasad, said to be the kingpin of the racket, allegedly joined hands with his friend Chakravarthi who allegedly had prior experience as a betting bookie, and the duo began accepting bets with the help of the console via which multiple phones can be connected at once.

Krishna and Sarath Chandra allegedly joined the gang as punters and helped Prasad and Chakravarthi organise betting on live cricket matches.

Commissioner’s Task Force (CTF), which learned about the betting activity in Maruthi Nagar, raided the house and arrested the gang, Mr. Rao said.

The Commissioner appreciated the CTF team including Additional DCP K.V. Srinivas Rao, ACP V.S.N. Sharma, SI G. Srinivas for busting the betting racket.