Crime branch team busted an IPL cricket betting racket and arrested five persons at Chikitsak Nagar Main Road in Lasudiya area on Thursday. According to crime branch team, based on a tip-off, a vehicle standing on the main road at Chikitsak Nagar was searched on Wednesday night. Police found five persons accepting bets on the ongoing IPL cricket matches. The police seized 20 mobile phones, two laptops, a calculator, two registers and seven notebooks from the accused which were used for betting.
The police officials informed that the notebooks seizes from the accused contained names of about 100 punters and information regarding the financial transactions which summed up around lakhs of rupees. During preliminary investigation police found that two of the accused are local residents whereas three are from Ratlam district who are currently residing in Indore.
The accused were identified as Akash Sharma (24), Rahul Pawar (23) and Lucky Sharma (22), all residents of Ratlam. Meanwhile, Hardik Dubey (20), a resident of Veena Nagar and Kuldeep Singh (21), a resident of Vinoba Nagar are from Indore. Police found that the accused organised online betting and used two four wheelers and two two-wheeler vehicles for collecting the money. Police also seized Rs 10500 cash from the accused. During investigation the accused confessed that they have links connected to Mumbai and Jhabua which help in betting.
The police are carrying a detailed investigation in the matter. The accused also confessed that they have been in IPL betting since long time and as the IPL matches started they again began conducting online betting. The police have booked the accused under relevant sections of the IPC and are investigating for further links and gang members.
