Sleuths of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Police Commissionerate, apprehended a small time bookie for his alleged involvement in an online cricket betting racket in Kashimira on Saturday night. As usual the king-pin and main bookies remained unidentified.
Acting on a tip-off, received by DCP Amit Kale, a team led by Police Inspector (crime) Jitendra Patil raided a seventh-floor apartment in the Prem Nagar area of Mira Road and found the accused identified as Jatin Choksi (40) allegedly accepting bets for the T-20 cricket match between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season being held at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
According to the police the accused had been accepting and placing bets on applications and which were found to be installed in his laptop and smartphones. Apart from betting material and accounting information of clients who placed bets, the police seized the gadgets worth Rs. 95,000 and booked the accused under the relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1985 and Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act, 1987.
The accused had been interacting and accepting bets through social media platforms. The police have found several numbers which are now under the scanner of investigations. Bookies and gamblers have adopted high-tech ways to place bets and settle accounts in a cashless mode via mobile applications and websites to evade the police dragnet. Further investigations were underway.
