Ghaziabad: Task force busts IPL betting syndicate, four arrested with Rs21 lakh cash

Officials of the Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) on Friday busted a major syndicate that allegedly roped in people to place bets on the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).

Officials said they recovered equipment and Rs21 lakh in cash from the four suspects, who were arrested from a flat on the 11th floor of Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida. The arrests were made from the jurisdiction of Kasna police station on Friday.

The four accused were identified as Shyam Verma, Shailesh and Ankit Kumar, of Agra and Jatin, of Sonepat in Haryana. Jatin was arrested late Friday night.

“The role of the owner of the flat is also under the scanner. The three accused roped in customers, attended to their phones and set up online betting rates through a mobile app. They have been active since the start of the IPL and were caught red-handed,” RK Mishra, deputy superintendent of police (STF), said.

“According to initial investigation, there are 400-500 customers connected to the three men who were operating from the flat. There are other centres in Agra and Sonepat, which are being scanned. The fourth accused, Jatin, was involved in transfer of money from the Greater Noida centre to Sonepat,” Mishra said.

Officials suspect that more customers are attached to the centre in Greater Noida. They said the main centre is suspected to be in Delhi while the other ‘regional’ centres were operating out of Greater Noida. The other ‘branch’ of the betting syndicate was operating from smaller places such as Agra, Sonepat, among others, officials added.

The team also recovered 40 mobile phones, three laptops, two Wi-Fi modems, mobile signal booster antenna, a printer and three LED televisions sets from the accused.