Police have invoked relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act and the Indian Telegram Act against the two accused, and an investigation has been launched to identify, trace and arrest their accomplices. The Pimpri-Chinchwad Police has arrested two bookies for allegedly accepting online bets on the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches through cellphone applications. This was the second such incident in the last four days, said officials.
Sleuths from the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police’s Crime Branch received a tip-off that some persons were facilitating bets on IPL matches in River Road area of Pimpri, and on Monday (April 10) raided a small room behind a cloth store in the Ambedkar Colony. They caught two suspects red-handed, while they were allegedly facilitating bets placed by people. The two suspects — identified as Naresh Agrawal (40) and Vishal Agrawal (24) — were arrested; and five cellphones used for facilitating bets and diaries containing notes on the bets were seized from their possession, said officials.
Police have invoked relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act and the Indian Telegram Act against the two accused, and an investigation has been launched to identify, trace and arrest their accomplices. In a similar incident, police on April 8 had busted a betting racket operated from an apartment in Kondhwa, and arrested nine bookies for allegedly facilitating bets on an IPL cricket match. The nine accused were arrested.