In a major crackdown on illegal betting, the Cyberabad Special Operations Team (SOT) has busted three illegal online betting rackets spanning across several states taking bets on IPL matches.
Speaking of the arrested to the media, Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra said the first raid was conducted by SOT Shamshabad and RGIA PS team who booked Podapati Narsing Rao from the site.
The police also seized Rs 60 lakh in cash, and Rs 32 lakh from bank accounts along with two mobile phones. Rao used the phones to operate various betting apps like Vajra777.com, Metro Exchange, and Varma777. Two more partners of Rao – Ganapathi Reddy and Srinivas Raju – are on the run.
Rajendranagar SOT, along with Rajendranagar Police, conducted the second raid which involved the arrest of Vegesina Ravi Raju and Bhupatiraju Prasad Raju who were also using betting apps to organize illegal online betting. Both of them were taking bets from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
A total of Rs 71.5 lakh in cash along with 17 mobile phones, and two laptops were seized during the raid. The police also froze Rs 7.35 lakh from several bank accounts.
The third raid was conducted by Balanagar SOT along with Narsingi police who booked K. Vinod Kumar who took bets from online betting apps like National Exchange9 and Topaz777.com. His partner Srikanth Reddy, along with main bookie Lingam, is currently absconding.
From the location, the police found records of transactions done through PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm. A total of Rs 7.5 lakh in cash, 17 mobile phones, a tablet, router, and one laptop were seized.
The commissioner warned people to be aware of these shady, illegal online betting apps due to the various types of risks they pose.
