BENGALURU: Amid ongoing IPL matches, the city police busted two gangs allegedly running organised online betting rackets and cheating the public through advertisements on social media. Two separate cases were registered against seven persons, and the Cubbon Park police have issued notices to the accused and are probing the matter.
In the first case, the accused, Ansari Bhasha, Ramesh C and Jayantilal T Raj, were using social media platforms to promote online betting apps to cheat innocent people of money, said Police Inspector Dayanand MJ of the Special Enquiry Cell of the Central Crime Branch. By posting ads on these platforms, they allegedly lured the public into participating in games of chance and other betting activities and encouraging them to engage in gambling.
The preliminary probe revealed that the accused collected necessary documents from others to run their illegal operations and opened bank accounts in the names of different individuals. They then took money from unsuspecting participants both through online transactions and in cash, using it as stakes to conduct online betting and gambling. It was also found that they were operating through various online platforms such as Lotus, Kingexchange365, Tigerexch365, KAbook, REDDYAnna, and other similar applications.
A senior police officer said the accused were running an organised betting racket, and efforts are under way to identify them and other associates involved, including those who created the betting applications and provided IDs and passwords for operating them.
In another case, filed by Inspector Shanmugham M of the Special Enquiry Cell, it was stated that the accused, Snehil, Mahesh, Nimay, and Kishor,were also running an organised cricket betting racket and cheating the public.