Cyberabad police bust cricket betting racket, arrest 18 bookies, seize Rs. 42L cash

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad police have apprehended 18 bookies who were organising online cricket betting and seized Rs. 42.38 lakh cash from them.

Besides the cash, the cops also seized five communication boards with 75 line mobiles, seven laptops, 46 smartphones, and other items – all worth Rs. 1.62 crores – from their possession.

The special operations team, Madhapur zone, received credible information about an online cricket betting racket being organised at Miyapur, Bachupally, Madhapur, and Gachibowli.

The Gachibowli police arrested Tummala Venkateshwar Rao, Bandi Ramesh, Gudivaka Devaraj, Syed Baji, Cenkuri Singa Raju, Kallur Prasad, Silam Setti Sai Krishna Chaitanya, and Alla Naaga Shankar.

The Madhapur police arrested Lingineni Naresh, Chennuati Rambabu, and Gangavarapu Haridhar while the Miyapur police arrested Karan Singh, Katari Srinivasa Raju, and Erolla Suryakanth. The Bachupalli police, meanwhile, arrested Mudunuri Srihari Raju and Panumacha Prudvi Raju.

The Kukatpally police arrested V. Sudharshan Goud and Mala Dasharatha. Seven others are absconding.

The main handlers – Pavan, Vickey, Narsimha, Srinivas, Venkat Rao, Prem, Jogesh Varma, and Bhupathi –are the key persons behind the online cricket betting racket in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. They had taken mainline access from main bookies. Further, they had selected some persons to operate the communication board which is connected through the mainline. They also had access to numerous bookies in Hyderabad.

The gamblers/punters kept track of the profit and loss through online betting apps like Fancy Life Entertainment Application, Live Line Guru, Cricket Mazza, Lotus, Bet-365, Bet fair, Kskline, VL group, and 777.com. The illegal cash payment transactions were made online, but in some cases, it was made in cash.