BCCI’s anti-corruption unit also caught a man, identified as Gaurav Sabharwal (Representational Image) An argument between Delhi Police personnel and two men over not wearing a face mask during an IPL game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium has exposed a racket being run from Dubai by the owner of an online betting website. Delhi Police Special Cell has stated that they have found that the two persons arrested were working for two different modules and were asked to pass on match-related information to bookies.
“They were present inside the stadium during three IPL matches and around 12 persons, including one from Dubai, were connected through conference calls at one time and they all were making money through online betting,” Delhi Police Special stated in the chargesheet before a Delhi Court.
Police have so far arrested Balam Singh (36), a peon with the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), Virender Singh Shah (37), a liaison officer/ assistant at DDCA for accreditation-related work for IPL games, Krishan Garg (26), Manish Kansal (38), Himanshu Kumar (28), and Sandeep Kumar (41). “One of the suspects, Navdeep Kabli Singh (31) told police that he was working for a man famous by the name of Google in betting world, for the last four years. He claimed his employer runs a book of satta (gambling) and also owns an “online betting website”. Navdeep disclosed that he gave rates during betting and he, along with two other employees, were running “satta” from their office in Gurugram,” police states.
Around the world, bookies and punters often take advantage of the time lag between the actual action on the field of play and the perceived ‘live’ images appearing on television. The delay in some cases could be longer than 10 seconds, time enough for someone watching the game inside the stadium to relay the match information to his associates indulging in online gambling at a remote location. Illegal bookmakers often employ hired hands — they are called pitch-siders — at stadiums to give ball-by-ball updates to exploit the delay in live pictures.
On May 2, Delhi Police sub-inspector Pradeep Kumar caught Krishan Garg and Manish Kansal, standing near a gallery of the Kotla’s VIP lounge after removing their face masks. They got into an argument after which Kumar asked for their IDs. “Garg showed his accreditation card, mentioning as junior assistant (SDMC health) and Kansal’s accreditation card shows he was duty supervisor of IBS facility management. Police found that their accreditation cards were made by Balam and Shah. Balam took Rs 10,000 and Shah took Rs 40,000 for making their cards,” police said.
BCCI’s anti-corruption unit also caught a man, identified as Gaurav Sabharwal. “Police found accreditation cards of Kansal and Gaurav were prepared by one supervisor of IBS company, Pramod Kumar,” police said.
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