The Anantapur police have busted a cricket betting racket by arresting 17 people and seized ₹25.10 lakh, 38 mobile phones, two LED TVs and 500 grams ganja from them.

The organiser of the racket has been identified as Syyed Javed Khadri and he is at large.

Special team formed

Superintendent of Police G.V.G. Ashok Kumar has formed a special team to track him down.

Of the 17 arrested, four are bookies and sub-bookies, while the rest are players. There were real estate agents, chit fund managers, farmers, travel company owners, medical store owners, and general store owners among the players.

The bookies have been identified as Gummadi Ramanjaneyulu and Veturi Venkataramana and sub-bookies have been identified as Mangala Prasad and Kottapalli Mastan Vali.

According to the police, the sub-bookies took bets and passed on them to bookies, who in turn sent it up to Khadri.

The police suspect that Khadri is running the operation from Hyderabad.

Addressing a press conference, the SP said seven cases, including a murder case, were registere d against Khadri and a rowdy-sheet was opened against him.