Three held as cops bust IPL betting racket in Kolkata

KOLKATA: After unearthing an IPL betting racket in the city — at a lodge in Bhowanipore — cops suspect that an organized racket with a pan-India presence was operating in the city. “We have leads that betting would peak during the play-offs and the finals. The same syndicate was also ready to accept bets on the results in the parliamentary elections,” said an investigating officer. The three persons arrested on Thursday hail from Varanasi in UP and were identified as Krishna Kumar Jyoti (27), Subham Kumar (23) and Sunni Kumar Shaw (23).
Earlier, 10 persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in the same racket. The police said those arrested earlier are from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Sources said while some 12 apps were being used to place bets and view matches live, the money transfers were happening online. Many of the apps are easily available as betting or gambling is legal in several countries. Bets were placed about weather conditions, the toss and the man of the match award, said police. “The fact that they had put up in a lodge shows Kolkata was going to be one of the main centres. With KKR out of the race, they had perhaps thought that we would not keep an eye on them,” said an officer.
Among the items recovered from those arrested on Thursday are documents with names of punters, money invested by them and names of the cricketers on whom specific bets were placed. Six mobiles, through which the accused were contacting the public and bookies fixing the bet and also transacting the money, were also seized. They were booked for cheating and conspiracy under the IPC and Section 4 of West Bengal Gambling & Prize Competition.