The Central Crime Branch is conducting raids at three locations in Bengaluru and arrested four persons for betting on the Indian Premier League (IPL), reports said. Sandeep Patil, Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), tweeted on Tuesday that three cases have been detected. He said that four accused have been arrested and close to Rs 5 lakh was seized. “The betting was done through online apps,” he said.
In a brief statement, Patil said that betting was done using applications such as Lotusbook, Cric365day and Falcon. Raids were carried out at Puttenahalli, Konanakunte and Byatarayanapura police station limits and four people involved in it were arrested and Rs 4.91 lakh cash was seized and six mobiles phones were confiscated.
Sports betting is illegal in Karnataka, as it is in most parts of India.
The CCB reportedly raided the house of the sons of former Bengaluru underworld don-turned-activist Muthappa Rai's son Ricky in Sadashiv Nagar and Ramanagara.
On September 23, the Central Crime Branch had said that six people had been arrested for allegedly betting on IPL matches and Rs 6 lakh was seized from them.
In a statement, the CCB said that the six were arrested from Banaswadi and Malleswaram areas in the city and two cases were registered against them. The punters were accepting bets from several people in Bengaluru on the basis of each ball, over, runs and on the victory and defeat of teams in the league.
On September 28, Deccan Herald reported that three stock brokers had been arrested by the CCB and Rs 9.5 lakh in cash and three mobile phones had been seized. They had reportedly been carrying out sports betting for many years.
These arrests come after the CCB formed a special team to keep an eye on illegal betting since the IPL began.