The Kadapa police on Wednesday busted an inter-State cricket betting racket and arrested as many as 31 bookies in Proddatur town on Wednesday.
As inputs trickled in about the possibility of a betting as well as ganja network spreading tentacles in the district, Superintendent of Police K.K.N. Anburajan formed special surveillance teams, led by Additional Superintendent of Police (Special Enforcement Bureau) Chakravarthy, and comprising Deputy Superintendents Prasada Rao (Proddatur) and Balaswamy Reddy (SEB) to keep a close watch.
The teams launched a blitzkrieg on ‘Big Boss cricket league’ operating from Proddatur town and arrested 31 bookies. The police also seized ₹1 lakh in cash, 6 kg of ganja, two cars, seven laptops, two communicators and ten betting account books from their possession.
Upon interrogation, it was found that the main bookies are based at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Goa, who used to stay in touch with the local teams through cricket-related mobile applications.
Whopping turnover
The bookies used to attract unsuspecting youths with alluring monetary benefits, while ganja trade also slowly flourished as crowd picked up. “We came to know from the betting books that the arrested and absconding bookies had made a betting turnover of ₹34.78 crore during the last IPL season. We are taking steps to freeze the accounts of the main culprits and send their property details to the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate for further action,” Mr. Anburajan told the media on Wednesday.
The arrested include S. Shahid Akram, Khaja Mohiddin, Bhumireddy Suresh Reddy, Mungara Ramanjaneyulu, Y. Srikanth Reddy, Mohd. Wahid Zama, Chenna Srinivasulu, Shaik Umar Farooq, Shaik Gayaz Basha, S. Sudheer, and Ghouse Basha.
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