Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

TOI reported today that an IPL cricket betting racket was busted at Mumbai by the MIDC police with the arrest of 10 persons from an Andheri hotel room recently. Bets were accepted on phone for all the IPL 20-20 matches. The accused are shop owners and businessmen from across Mumbai. The kingpin, Yogesh alias Sadi from Gujarat, is wanted, police said.

Amongst the arrested persons, Harilal Nisar (43) was identified as the main bookie. Kanti Chheda (34), who has also been arrested, arranged for all the money. Nisar works at his brother’s sari shop while Chheda runs Sakhi Sarees at Malad’s Natraj market.

A team of officers carried out a raid and found nine men placing bets on the match between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab XI. A notepad containing details of transactions of that day alone was recovered, apart from Rs 2.10 lakh in cash, 12 cellphones as well as other equipment used for gambling and stationery,” said zonal DCP K M M Prasanna.

Based on leads provided by the men, Chheda was picked up from his Malad home. The police will be checking the cellphone records of all the accused.

Incidentally, the hotel charges Rs 2,000 per day for a room. But the accused had a paid a sum of Rs 4,500 per day. They have been accepting bets from customers on phone and used to place the bets at the hotel room, ever since the IPL tournament began. “We will also question the hotel management,” a police officer said.

The other accused include Raoji Savla (59) who owns Arihant mobile store, M Vora (52) who owns Jyoti Agarbattis at Vashi, Paramshi Nandu (49) who runs Om Medical Store at Santacruz, Khimji Rabia (54) who runs Mahavir Electrical and Hardware at Ghatkopar (E), R Gala (48) who owns an art gallery in Santacruz - TOI added