IPL Betting Racket Busted, Eight Held During Match Raid In Indore

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): City police busted an alleged international online betting racket during an IPL match and arrested eight people from a house in the Bapji Nagar area, an officer said on Wednesday.

The suspects were allegedly running online betting on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans IPL match through a website called Premium Clients Book. Police said bets were being placed on every ball and every over of the match.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP-Crime) Rajesh Kumar Tripathi said that during the raid conducted on Tuesday, officials found the suspects operating laptops, mobile phones and internet devices while a live IPL match was being played on a large LED television.

According to officials, the suspects allegedly used secret IDs and passwords to allow customers to participate in online cricket and casino betting.

Money was allegedly transferred through different bank accounts and hawala channels.

Police seized 23 smartphones, three laptops, a 55-inch smart LED television, a Wi-Fi router, 13 debit cards and four registers containing records of betting transactions worth crore of rupees. The total value of the seized items is estimated at Rs6.57 lakh.

The arrested suspects were identified as Rajendradas, Ramaswamy, Chinmay Kumar Sahu, Anand Pradhan, Avinash Thakur, Kunaldas, Shashank Negi and Vikas Vishwal.

The suspects are residents of Odisha, Jabalpur and Indore. Police said they were using Indore as a safe house to run the betting syndicate.

A case has been registered under the Public Gambling Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act. The crime branch is investigating the racket’s financial links and working to freeze bank accounts linked to the betting operation.