PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE / Dehradun
A joint team of the Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) and Dehradun Police busted an alleged online IPL betting racket operating from a rented flat in Vasant Vihar area and arrested five accused. Police said that the accused were allegedly running online betting activities through banned betting platforms, including the Mahadev betting app and the Readybook betting app, both suspected to have links with the operators based in Dubai.
The raid was carried out on the night of May 7 at a rented flat in Rishi Vihar colony after police received information about IPL betting activities in the area. During the operation, the STF and police teams caught the accused accepting bets online through websites and WhatsApp groups.
The arrested accused were identified as Sunil Sharma, Sandeep Gupta, Akarand Sharma and Abhishek Sharma, all hailing from Surguja in Chhattisgarh and Sandeep Kumar from Aurangabad in Bihar. The accused disclosed during questioning that they were using the Readybook betting app for online IPL betting. They said that user IDs and passwords for the app were allegedly provided by their handler Sumit Yadav who is based in Gurugram and reportedly received access credentials from Dubai-based operators. The police recovered three laptops, 17 mobile phones, 22 ATM cards and other digital material allegedly linked to the betting operation.
Police added that several bank accounts used for financial transactions are also under investigation. Police are examining the seized electronic devices and banking documents to trace other people linked to the racket. A case has been registered under sections 3 and 4 of the Public Gambling Act 1867 with further investigation underway.
