The Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai Crime Branch has booked an interstate online betting network with ties to gangsters operating out of Dubai. Five bookies have been arrested by the AEC so far for making bets on the T20 World Cup final game between England and Pakistan last Sunday.
During the match the crime branch received a tip-off that a group of people were placing bets online while staying in a Dadar hotel. Police arrested two suspects during the raid and recovered a diary, cash, and several cell phones.
An AEC officer said, “The diary has the details of at least 18 online apps which were used to place bets and numbers of a few more bookies and contact details of their counterparts operating from Dubai were also found.”
Imran Khan and Francis Anthony Dias, two of the accused, were apprehended during a match on November 13. Three more suspects, identified as Dharmesh Shivdasani, Dharmesh Vora, and Gaurav Shivdasani, were detained by police later on Thursday.
Additionally, the police have their CDR, which indicates coordination with some betting kingpins operating out of Dubai. The D gang has been involved in such betting to run their gang, thus the authorities have not ruled out their involvement.
“Some Hawala transactions are also noticed and that needs to be thoroughly investigated. We have learned that they have been placing bets on all kinds of sports from different parts of the country and the money is being siphoned off through Hawala,” said an officer with the knowledge of the matter.
Names and contact information of more than 60 bookies were found in certain chats that the authorities have recovered. The criminal section claims that in addition to the 18 apps, they were also discovered taking bets on a few other mobile apps.
All of the defendants were presented before the court on Thursday and are now being held in police custody until November 21. Ajay Dubey, a lawyer for the accused, informed the court that the police had already made the necessary recoveries, hence their custody was not necessary.