Visakhapatnam police bust online betting racket, 11 arrested

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Vizag Cyber police have arrested 11 bookies involved in online betting activities and have frozen 63 bank accounts.
During the investigation, the police uncovered transactions totaling around Rs 367.62 crore across 36 accounts. They also seized Rs 75 lakh from these accounts and confiscated 12 mobile phones.
The action follows the earlier arrest of the Mahadev App gang, who were taken into custody eight months ago.Despite this, additional cases related to the same app gang emerged, leading to further investigations by cyber police, resulting in the arrest of 10 more bookies.
Most of the accused bookies hail from the newly-formed Anakapalli district, with two individuals from Vizag city. The arrested individuals include Merupu Reddy Suri Babu, Handa Dinesh Kumar, Barri Srinu, Gurram Siva, Killadi Srinivas Rao, Allu Nookarju Avinash, Uriti Kondababu, Uraiti Venkateswarlu, Sundarapu Ganesh, Duli Nookaraju, and Vuppu Vasudevarao.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP-Zone I), K Srinivasa Rao, revealed that the investigation stemmed from a complaint filed by Yerra Sattibabu, who lost Rs 8 lakh in online betting organized by his relative, Suribabu. Suribabu had provided a loan to Sattibabu for betting, but when the victim discovered the cheating, he approached the cyber crime police, leading to the case and subsequent investigation.
DCP Srinivasa Rao explained that the main accused, Reddy Suribabu, had engaged in online betting with authorization from an online betting firm, operating as a bookie. He would collect substantial sums from 30 to 40 individuals and place bets on IPL and international cricket matches. His annual turnover ranged from Rs 5 crore to Rs 6 crore.
Suribabu and his associates deceived people by manipulating the application and website. Even if punters won their bets, the gang would block the winners' account IDs and transfer money from savings and current accounts to corporate accounts. Currently, a manhunt is underway to apprehend the key figures involved in online betting.