BERHAMPUR: Berhampur police on Thursday busted illegal betting rackets and arrested two persons in separate cases for their alleged involvement in facilitating online gambling activities.
The accused were identified as Rohit Mohanty (32) of Baikuntha Nagar and Badal Gouda (22) of Desi Behera Sahi. Over `17 lakh has been separately frozen from the bank accounts of the duo.
In the first case, a team of Berhampur Town police led by sub-inspector (SI) Ranajit Kumar Dash conducted a raid at Subham mobile shop in Sai Complex, Gandhi Nagar near Ramalingam tank area late Wednesday evening and caught the shop owner Mohanty red-handed while he was operating online betting through an application, ‘Skyexchange’. Though Mohanty attempted to flee, he was nabbed by the police team.
As per preliminary investigation, Mohanty supplied betting IDs and passwords to several users through WhatsApp, thereby enabling the betting operations. During interrogation, he disclosed the name of another person Raj Kishore Samal, who is the main operator of the network. He is currently on the run, police said. The cops seized several incriminating items from Mohanty’s possession including `37,000 cash and three mobile phones. Apart from this, Rs 17 lakh from three bank accounts linked to the operation was frozen.
In the second incident the same night, acting on a tip-off, a team of Bada Bazar police led by SI S Behera raided the area near Binayak Acharya College pond, and arrested Gouda while he was actively engaged in betting activities on the same platform.
Investigation revealed Gouda purchased betting panels online and distributed them to customers, claiming they were authorised and legal. Police seized three mobile phones and other digital evidences from him. Six bank accounts containing `33,257 linked to the illegal operation were frozen.
Police said Gouda had criminal antecedents and was involved in a similar offence under the Odisha Public Gambling Act in 2023.
