IPL cricket betting racket busted in Vanasthalipuram, 7 arrested

Hyderabad: The sleuths of the Special Operations Team (SOT) of Rachakonda police busted an IPL cricket betting racket under Vanasthalipuram Police Station on April 5 and arrested seven people.

On a tip-off, on 5 April at around 8:15 pm, the SOT conducted a raid at Plot No. 30, Satya Nagar Colony, under the limits of Vanasthalipuram Police Station, busted an IPL cricket betting racket, and apprehended 7 accused persons. Over the cell phones, betting for the Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore match was progressing.

The police seized net cash of Rs.11,80,000 and found Rs.31,17,576 in two AXIS Bank & ICICI accounts belonging to the main bookies, Ch Sai Ram Varma and Roman Catholic Kulandai Swamy. They also seized one laptop, nine mobile phones, and other incriminating material, from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Tanniru Nagaraju, Gundu Kishore, Thanniru Ashok, Chemmeti Vinod, Kotla Dinesh Bhargav, Medishetty Kishore, and Bojana Raju. The main accused Ch. Sai Ram Varma and Roman Catholic Kulandai Swamy are absconding.

During the interrogation, the police found that the accused Tanniru Nagaraju who is a resident of Vaidehi Nagar, Vanasthalipuram is a bookie addicted to betting and earning easy money by organizing and accepting bets in Hyderabad during the IPL season. Ch Sai Ram Varma who is the main bookie has so many sub-bookies like Tanniru Nagaraju in twin cities.

Tanniru Nagarju receives cricket betting rates from Ch. Sai Ram Varma to his line number and he informs the same to his punters. He made a setup of 3-line numbers. After completion of the match, Tanniru Nagaraju collects and distributes the winning and losing amounts through one Gundu Kishore, whom he appointed as an accountant. Some of his customers/punters used to send money to various bank accounts through Paytm, Net Banking, etc. Tanniru Nagaraju was earlier arrested by Vanasthalipuram police in a similar case in the year 2016.

The accused Tanniru Nagaraju confessed that he and his common friend Gundu Kishore both have good experience in running and accepting cricket betting during cricket matches. Tanniru Nagaraju brought Gundu Kishore from Machilipatnam to Hyderabad and he also helps in operating computers during this IPL season for two months. Gundu Kishore was offered to pay an amount of Rs.50,000 per month.

Tanniru Ashok and Chemmeti Vinod are distant relatives of Tanniru Nagaraju. At the request of Tanniru Nagaraju, they were working as sub-bookies and the entire setup was established at the house of Chemmeti Vinod.

Modus Operandi

The accused revealed that the bookies arranged telephonic lines using connections and they give line numbers to the punters. The betting starts after the first ball of the first over and goes on till the last ball, it fluctuates depending upon the situation of the match. The punters make calls to the bookies while the match is running and place their betting.

While placing betting, bookies note down the details of betting and punter and the conversation will also automatically get recorded. After completion of the match, bookies inform their collection agents about the details of collection and distribution of amount, i.e., how much money has to be collected from a particular punter and how much has to be given to a certain punter.

Based on that information, the collection agents collect the money from losers and distribute the money to winners and the remaining amount i.e., profit will be given to the bookie. Sometimes punters directly send money to the bookies to their bank accounts using Paytm, Net Banking, etc. The main bookie gives 3% to sub bookies in overall profits.