A blot on rural landscape in Chittoor

The incidence of cricket betting in the rural areas of Chittoor district has come to dispel the notion that the menace is limited to urban areas, with the alleged suicide of a 20-year-old student of a remote rural hamlet of Baireddipalle mandal on May 2.

The degree student is said to have borrowed huge amounts from relatives and friends, well in advance of the IPL matches, and having lost in the very initial ones, was left with no option but to resort to the extreme step. Post the incident, the police have intensified surveillance on educational institutions in the Kuppam and Palamaner circles.

Even worse, ever since the IPL mania gripped the cricket world, over 40 persons have been arrested, and cash to the tune of ₹2 lakh, and mobile phones and motorbikes seized in Madanapalle and Vayalapadu police circles.

“Those who have been arrested in two cases in the last 20 days resorted to individual and group betting. Most of them hail from poor families. We are leaving no stone unturned to check the aberration from spreading to other parts of Madanapalle division. We have put up huge flexies and banners cautioning the vulnerable sections,” Deputy SP (Madanapalle) Chidananda Reddy said.

Curious turn

Adding fuel to fire, the issue took yet another curious turn after forest official reportedly went missing a fortnight ago from Chittoor town, for the reasons widely believed to be financial pressure unleashed by the lure for cricket betting.

The Chittoor One Town police had to repeatedly undertake searches in lodges to check cricket betting as the tri-State centre is vulnerable to the visits of the so-called bookies and agents from Bengaluru and Chennai, who check into boarding units to conduct their business away from police gaze. A few days before the IPL matches commenced, a series of awareness camps were conducted for the hoteliers, cautioning them to desist from entertaining strangers with suspicious intents.

A senior police officer told The Hindu that cricket betting is now the buzzword even in schools and colleges.

Some of the school managements have cautioned the parents to desist from giving large amounts of cash to boys and disallowing them from wearing gold chains and rings. The parents were also warned that in case of any trouble from their boys, their admission will be cancelled.

Meanwhile, the police, except for scratching a small line on the wall, could not penetrate into the core problem as no bookies were identified, and links from where the betting business would emerge is not traced.