 "satta, betting, elections")
Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune City police have made 53 arrests related to illegal bets which were placed on the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, The Indian Express (IE) reported.
The police used special tactics to nab the betting rackets. In one instance, the police sent one of their team members acting as a pizza-delivery boy to the suspected flat.
At another location, a policeman was sent to a house to tell the owner that their car was leaking oil.
Both of these plans were designed to discover the truth of what was going on in these flats, the IE report said. The police teams conducted these operations during the month of April.
Similar raids were conducted by Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune City police teams that resulted in a large number of arrests.
Explaining the case, Commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad Police, Vinoy Kumar Choubey was quoted in the IE report as saying, “While IPL betting is illegal under provisions of the Prevention of Gambling Act and the Telegraph Act, its social implications are far more serious. Many criminal elements are connected with these betting rackets. During the latest IPL season, our investigation teams worked meticulously on cultivating sources and conducted multiple coordinated raids. The stringent action against cricket betting and other forms of gambling will continue in the coming days.”
The police said that most of these suspects operate as local criminals at their respective native places and they had gathered in Pune to work as associates, the IE report added.
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The people arrested include those from Pune and outside. Most of these people were businessmen aged between 25 and 50. Some of these people had flown to Pune especially to run these betting rackets.
Among those arrested, there were people from Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Punjab, Mumbai, and Nashik, among others, the report said.
Officials investigating the case said that most of the suspects operated from upmarket residential societies. To place their bets, they used online betting platforms which were hosted outside India.
Elaborating on the manner in which these rackets operated, the report quoted a police inspector from Pimpri Chinchwad as saying, “The people who act as bookies open their bookie accounts on online international betting platforms. Generally, a bunch of these bookies operate from flats in plush housing societies, which they rent for short periods.”
The Pimpri Chinchwad Police conducted 12 raids and found out about at least seven online betting platforms. Most of these platforms were operated out of Europe or the middle east.
The investigation into the matter revealed that these suspects used an online application in which the telecast of the match could be seen a couple of minutes ahead of the telecast on television, the IE report said.
