Surat: A team from the state monitoring cell of police department working directly under supervision of director general of police (DGP) busted a cricket betting racket at the city's Pal-Adajan area on Tuesday. Police arrested Sejal Patel, Mehul Chauhan, Dharmesh Patel and Nikesh Patel from a residential apartment and recovered valuables worth Rs8.73 lakh that included cash, two laptops, 27 mobile phones, one television and a car from their possession.
The accused were taking betting orders on Asia Cup T20 matches on the mobile phone when the team raided the first floor apartment in Pal-Adajan following specific information.
Police investigation revealed that the accused had been arrested in recent past too from Adajan area for running the betting racket. They were in touch with other betting networks namely Krishna Surat, Vanraj Surat, Jigar Vapi, Chirag and Guruji Jamnagar.
The accused ran a ‘Bobdi' betting racket, which is gradually becoming popular among people, who were into cricket betting. The accused informed police that they have a set network of clients who stay in touch with them through telephone. Similarly, a local bookie stayed in touch with other bookies through phone.
"The accused said they started the racket 15 days ago. Neighbours in the apartment didn't come to know about the racket as there was no movement of outsiders there," said T R Rathwa, police sub-inspector, Adajan. Police are yet to identify the bookies who were in touch with the four accused.
Sejal is the main accused. He was the person who was running the racket while others were employed by him, police said. Sejal has a sari box-making business. The other accused work for him at his box-making business. The ‘Bobdi' betting racket was started by the main accused to make some quick money in the cricket season.
Start a Conversation
Post comment