The Special Operations Team (SOT) of the Cyberabad police busted three interstate, online Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket betting rackets. Seven bookies have been arrested and three criminal cases have been registered by the Cyberabad police. The cases have been registered in the RGIA (Airport), Rajendranagar, and Narsingi police stations. This is being touted as one of the biggest IPL betting cases busted by the Cyberabad police.
The police have also seized 36 mobile phones, three laptops, one tablet, and one Jio router from the accused. In the first case, 31-year-old Podapati Narsing Rao, a real estate agent and resident of SR Nagar in Hyderabad, was apprehended by the SOT of Shamshabad. He has been identified as a sub-bookie. Ganapathi Reddy, who hails from Bengaluru, and Srinivas Raju, who hails from Andhra’s East Godavari, who have been identified as main bookies, are absconding.
The main bookies would provide access to the sub-bookie through various apps and websites in exchange for money. The sub-bookie would provide access to punters from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. The exchange of money happened through PhonePe, Google Pay, and PayTM. In some cases, cash transactions have also taken place. A total cash of Rs 60 lakh and Rs 32 lakh have been seized in cash.
In the second case, the SOT caught the main bookie, 45-year-old Vegesina Ravi Raju, and 40-year-old Bhupatiraju Prasad Raju, who has been identified as a sub bookie. They were arrested while organising cricket betting in Bandlaguda Jagir in Rajendranagar area.
In the third case, the SOT caught 32-year-old K Vinod Kumar while another sub-bookie, Srikanth Reddy who hails from Wanaparthy, is absconding. Both Vinod and Srikanth would access betting portals from the main bookie Linham, who too is absconding. The sub-bookies would provide a username and password to punters to access apps and websites to participate in the organised betting.
The Cyberabad police has warned the public of being lured into betting hoping to make a quick buck. They have also said that in most cases, the bookie ends up making money while the punters always lose money. The Cyberabad police have also warned that those who participate in online betting are more prone to cyber theft.