HYDERABAD: In a major catch, city police on Thursday busted three cricket betting rackets and apprehended 11 sub-bookies along with Rs 44.3 lakh in cash from their possession. The Hyderabad Task Force slueths conducted simultaneous raids on the betting dens where the accused were betting on Big Bash T20 league being held in Australia.
The police after apprehending the 11 accused, came to know about main bookie Vishal Lodia, who lives in Feelkhana. They raided his house, where a live-line box with 36 phones of sub-bookies and a broadcast phone connected to it were seized. Incidentally, Vishal Lodia, the kingpin, who is still at large, was receiving calls from one of the spectators at the stadium who shared live match updates to help the bookie fix the betting rates. Even as the commissioner’s conference was on, one of the sub-bookies who do not have information about the arrest of their counterparts, made calls to Vishal.
A live call from Sydney was also received on the broadcast phone. However, the caller did not speak much. Acting on a tip-off, the Task Force sleuths raided three places at Abids, Banjara Hills and Narayanaguda, and nabbed 11 persons for organising betting on cricket matches. The arrested include Manoj Kumar Agrawal, Mahender Kumar Karwa, Mohd Riyazuddin, Yalla Suresh, Channi Rajender, Katla Rahul, Mukesh Kumar, Guruvinder Singh, Bhupender Singh, Anand Kumar and Daga Abhishek.
Hyderabad police commissioner VV Srinivasa Rao said there are around 15 major bookies across the country, who engage sub-bookies to lure punters to bet money on the matches. A T20 series named Big Bash League is underway at Sydney in Australia. About 70 per cent of the betting in Hyderabad is being organised by these three gangs. “We have got good leads by busting the three gangs. The prime bookie Vishal Lodia is yet to be nabbed,” the commissioner said.
How it all works
Vishal Lodia has set up a live-line call box at his house with which he can communicate with 36 sub-bookies at a time, and also has a mobile phone dedicatedly used to take the broadcast call.
“There would be a time-gap in the telecast of the live match. Taking that as an advantage, the match viewer shares details to the bookies through a broadcast call. Based on their convenience, the bookies decide to accept betting from the sub-bookies. Many times, it will be in favour of the bookies, who already know the match situation,” the commissioner said. The Task Force slueths during raids, seized `44.3 lakh cash, 62 phones, three TVs, five laptops, set top boxes, a cash-counting machine, and other stationery used to take details of the betting.