The Three Town Police Station in Visakhapatnam along with the City Task Force Team on Thursday busted a massive Indian Premier League (IPL) betting racket and arrested seven people from two gangs.
Police said that members of both gangs were operating from two apartments in Kirlampudi layout, a posh area in the city, by posing as software professionals who worked from home.
Speaking to reporters, Joint Commissioner of Police Nagendra Kumar, said that the task force team led by ACP Chitti Babu conducted raids at Akshaya Villa apartment and Hema Heritage apartment in Kirlampudi.
Police teams raided the apartments late on Wednesday during the IPL cricket match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Marada Laxmi Chandra Sekhar from Hyderabad's SR Nagar and Avupati Bheema Raju from Anaparthi in East Godavari were identified as the main accused, along with commentators-cum-phone boys Gandi Swami, Gadni Ramu Naidu, Bhogila Satyam, Lokarapu Tirupati and Kovvuri Vara Prasad.
Police said that the betting amounts could vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 suggesting that bets worth several lakh rupees were placed on every single match.
According to reports, the police seized Rs 10.6 lakh in cash besides three laptops, five multi-level cell connectivity boxes, 107 mobile phones, three TVs, 34 new unused SIM cards, a car and four two-wheelers from their possession.
“We have to investigate how they managed to procure so many SIM cards. Normally, SIM cards are issued based on submission of legal identification documents. Since all the SIM cards are from one company and obtained under CUG (closed user group) system, we have to investigate the link with the operator,” Nagendra Kumar was quoted as saying.
Stating that this was the biggest bust in the last four years, ACP Chitti Babu said that the police have registered two different cases at Three Town police station under the provisions of the AP Gaming Act.