Illegal Online Cricket Betting Racket Busted In Bhopal, 5 Held

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Ithkhedi police on Sunday busted an illegal online cricket betting racket that was being operated under the cover of a clothing shop. Five suspects have been arrested and multiple mobile phones along with cash have been seized.

SP, rural, RS Prajapati said acting on a tip-off, police conducted a raid and arrested the main suspect Palash Thakur, who ran a garment shop. During the search of his mobile phone, an active betting ID was found on an online portal named Silverbhai.com, which had a balance of Rs 2,51,550.

During interrogation, Thakur confessed to running the betting operation along with his associates. Based on his inputs, four more suspects were arrested identified as Salman Khan, Atul Mali, Aniket Prajapati and Rajesh Mehra, all residents of Ithkhedi area.

Police recovered Rs 17,615 in cash, six mobile phones with a total seizure worth Rs 1,37,615. All mobile phones have active betting IDs. Digital transactions worth Rs 6.79 lakh were traced across multiple accounts.

A case has been registered under Section 4 (A) of Gambling Act and further investigation is underway to identify other members of the network.

From a clothing shop

The suspects used Silverbhai portal to generate betting IDs and onboard users. They collected money from participants, facilitated bets on cricket matches and earned commissions from the transactions. The entire illegal operation was being run discreetly from a clothing shop.

Money recovered

Palash Thakur: Rs 2,51,550

Salman Khan: Rs 24,698

Atul Mali: Rs 2,98,264

Aniket Prajapati: Rs 0 (active ID)

Rajesh Mehra: Rs1,04,786