Police bust betting racket in Vijayawada, nine arrested


Police bust betting racket in Vijayawada, nine arrested
cricket betting
Representative Image

Vijayawada police busted an online cricket betting racket and arrested as many as nine persons associated with the illegal activities. The accused organised betting at an apartment in Murali Nagar under limits of Penamaluru police station on Saturday.

The accused were identified as V Kalyan Chakravarthi (39), K Ravi Kiran (42), M Kesava Reddy (33), K Chandrasekhar (26), R Srinivas Rao (31), T Sudhakar (40), P Kutumba Rao (43), Md Khalilullah (45) and T Siva Shankar (28). All nine are the residents of Vijayawada only. They formed a team to organise betting on the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches for the past one month.

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The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP – L&O) V Harshavardhan Raju told that the Commissioner’s Task Force (CTF) received information that the accused were organising cricket betting from a rented apartment in Murali Nagar. They caught them red-handed while taking bets from punters. Addressing the media, he said five persons are bookies, and the remaining four include sub-bookies, operators and cash collecting agents. 

Police also seized INR 7.5 lakh cash

cricket betting
Seized items by the investigating police

The investigating police also seized INR 7.5 lakh cash, a television set, a laptop, and a communicator device. Apart from them, they also confiscated 13 mobile phones from their possession.

“A case was registered against the accused under AP Gaming Act and they will be produced in the court on Monday. The accused used a betting app called ‘Cricket Mazza’ available on Google Play Store. They accepted bets using referrals through their friends and relatives. The accused got caught as they were placing bets on a cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders,” said DCP Harshavardan Raju.

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