Even as the country celebrated the Indian cricket team's first ever victory in the Test series in Australia, four people in Mumbai were allegedly busy fixing an Australian domestic cricket match from the city. The Santacruz police on Tuesday busted a cricket betting syndicate and arrested the accused identified as Bipin Shah alias Bipin Indraprasth (48), Jitendra Jadhav (38), Narayan Rebari (24) and Devilal Jaat (40).
According to police reports, Indraprasth is a history-sheeter and has been named in many betting cases in the past. He was also arrested in the past by the anti-extortion cell of the Thane police for fixing a high-profile cricket match.
"On Monday, senior police inspector of Santacruz police station received a tip-off after which the police team along with the crime detection officers raided a building named Ashiyana on Linking Road in Santacruz West. The accused had rented a flat in the building specifically for betting. On raiding the premises, the officers found that a professional 20-20 Australian cricket league series named The Big Bash was being fixed by the accused," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 9, Paramjit Singh Dahiya said.
Prime accused, Indraprasth was communicating through cell phones with other bookies, and he was also fixing the rates of the game being played. Jadhav was seen operating a laptop while Rebare was receiving calls from other bookies and customers, and Jaat was assisting the trio.