Delhi Police busts cricket betting racket, arrests 11

Delhi Police's Crime Branch busted an interstate cricket betting racket and arrested its 11 members who were operating from the city during the One Day International (ODI) match between India and Australia being played in Bengaluru, officials said on Monday.

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The accused were identified as Amit Arora (48), Anuj Arora (44), Ritesh Bansal (37), Ansul Bansal (27), Naveen Kumar (32), Rohit Sharma (34), Ritesh Aggarwal (38), Rohit Rastogi (34), Aman Gupta (22), Ankush Bansal (38) and Anurag Aggarwal (35), they said. During interrogation, they disclosed that bets worth over Rs 5 crore had been placed, police said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) A K Singla said a tip-off was received that a betting racket is being operated in Delhi and will be active during the ODI match between India and Australia in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on Sunday. "Our team raided a house in Ashoka Niketan, Karkardooma, when the match was in progress and apprehended 11 persons," he said.

Seven laptops, two LCD TVs, four specially designed briefcases and 74 mobile phones were recovered from them, he added. Amit Arora, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, is the kingpin of the racket which operates all over India, Singla said. Gamblers call on specific numbers given by the gang to place bets. The gang uses specially designed betting software on their laptops to record and calculate bets placed during a match, the officer said.

Amit had arranged for three special phone connections called ‘Tota Lines’, which he had bought from an operator of Delhi. These lines keep repeating the current rates of betting after every ball on a loudspeaker, he added. He verbally relayed these rates to all the punters who placed bets with him. the ACP said. Bets were placed on the winner of toss, runs, sessions, wickets, final victory etc, he added. Amit also used two different apps on his laptop which have been provided to him by two operaters from Punjab, police said. 

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