Major IPL betting gang busted

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police has continued with its crackdown on cricket betting gangs during Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches. On Sunday night, the police busted a major betting gang and arrested ten persons for illegally running the betting syndicate in Nand Gram area of Ghaziabad.

The husband of a BJP councillor is also one among the ten arrested persons, said police. The police have seized Rs 1.60 lakh cash along with other materials.

The police had received information that a few people were running the racket and were placing bets on the ongoing match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings in Nand Gram area. The police then began gathering more information before raiding the house from where the gang was operating.

"Acting on a tip-off, the police on Sunday night raided the house in Nand Gram area and nabbed the accused red-handed, jotting down bets on the ongoing match," said Akash Tomar, Superintendent of police (city), Ghaziabad.

The ten accused – Ankit, Anuj, Rajdeep, Rahul, Dharmendra, Sanjay Singh, Vivek Verma, Tishu Tyagi, Vipin Tyagi and Ravi – were watching the match live and invited the punters to place bets on the match.

Tomar further added that all the ten accused, hailing from the Ghaziabad, used to entertain betting from Ghaziabad and surrounding areas through phone calls.

Apart from cash, police recovered seven mobile phones, a laptop, 10 betting diaries and a .32mm pistol with two live cartages from their possession.

The police said that the gang procured SIM cards with fake document proofs and employed some persons to assist them in operating the racket. The police suspect that the betting gang has links with some other bookies in the nearby districts and added that a detailed investigation was on into the matter.