JAIPUR: The
betting syndicate is back before the first
IPL match is being held at the SMS Stadium on Wednesday. The state police busted two such rackets in Sikar and Jaipur in the intervening nights of Tuesday and Wednesday.
In a first, a special team of Harmara police station raided a house on Sikar Road and arrested three accused with transaction slips showing business worth over Rs 1 crore. Several mobile phones, record books and sim cards were recovered by police during the raid. The accused have been identified as Ranjit Kumar, Amar Singh and
Mukesh Kumar.
According to SHO
Lakhan Singh Khatana, a specific intelligence input was received following the teams tracked down their hideout and sized Rs 38,000 in cash, 51 mobile sets, a car and transaction slips of Rs 92 lakh.
“One of the accused admitted that he in the past had also indulged in some kind of betting, we arrested all three of them from a house and brought them to the police station. We are investigating if they had ties in other states too,” Khatana informed TOI.
In a separate raid by Sikar’s Fatehpur police, five bookies were arrested with over two dozen mobile phones, and several transactions slips showing business of Rs 80 lakh.
The senior officials of
Rajasthan police had earlier issued directions to all station house officers about the possibility of suspects involved in betting. “This is a very lucrative business, people have made fortunate in betting. We are currently checking the possibility of their involvement with other syndicates of different states like in Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi etc,” the official told TOI.
In 2013, the Mumbai police and the crime branch of the Delhi police had lambasted the Rajasthan police for inaction over mushrooming betting rackets in the state, especially during IPL matches, after names of two leading jewellers from Jaipur figured in their investigations.
The accused in police custody
