Bhopal: The Crime branch sleuths on Wednesday arrested seven bookies accepting bets on the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches from Govind Garden area of Aishbagh on Tuesday night. Police have recovered 38 mobile phones, two LED TVs, one set top box, a call recorder, betting slips having transactions of worth lakhs of rupees from their possession.
The miscreants were running betting on IPL match from a rented room in Govind Garden area of Aishbagh. The accused belong to different areas of Madhya Pradesh and neighbouring state including Bhopal, Jhansi, Datia and Banda. The bookies, include student, farmers, businessman and accountant, would team up during the IPL T20 matches for betting.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Rashmi Mishra said that one of the accused Hemant Agrawal operated the racket at his rented house. The other accused who are from Datia and other areas where in search of a new place to operate their betting den and finally found Hemant’s house suitable for their operation. The arrested accused were identified as Hemant Tiwari (25) a resident of Jhansi, who runs a business of packed snacks; Pramod Kumar (28) of Banda U.P and is a farmer; Latif Khan (28) of Datia is an accountant at Galla Mandi; Rohit Sitole (19) of Jehangirbad Bhopal is a student; Vikas Yadav (22), Harish Yadav (23) and Akash Yadav (24) are all farmers from Datia.
The accused told police in their confession that they use to work during the day and thereafter they would get involved in operating their betting business. They have built a big network of gamblers who would bet on the IPL matches, police said . A case under relevant sections of the Gambling Act is being registered against them. Further investigations are on.
