IPL betting ring busted, 4 with Dubai link held from posh Noida society

PTI, Aug 27, 2023, 11:24 AM IST

Noida: With the arrest of four suspected bookies, the Noida Police on Saturday claimed to have busted a gang of placing bets on Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches.

The betting ring — which has been active in Delhi NCR for over six years — also has a Dubai connection, the police said.

The gang had recently moved to Noida and were operating from a flat in a posh group housing society against a monthly rent of Rs 50,000, they said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Harish Chander said the flat was located in Lotus Boulevard society in Sector 100, under Sector 39 police station area.

”A raid was conducted at the flat on Friday by a team led by ACP Rajneesh Verma and under supervision of ADCP Shakti Mohan Avasthy and four people arrested from the spot,” Chander said.

”During the raid, electronic devices, including mobile phones, laptops, TV sets, some debit/credit cards, passports, Aadhar cards were seized from the flat,” he said.

The gang was running a betting ring named ‘Tesla 2’. They had been engaged in betting on IPL cricket matches for the last six years but were operating from Delhi. Earlier this month, they relocated to this flat in Noida, the DCP said.

The police team seized Rs 3.79 lakh in cash from the spot while foreign currencies amounting to around Rs 4 lakh were also found in the flat, the officer said.

The foreign currencies are from the US, the UAE, Malaysia, Oman, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Thailand, according to the police.

Besides this, the police have found six bank accounts linked to the accused in which around Rs 11 lakh are deposited.

Those held have been identified as the gang’s key man Gaurav Gupta, his associates Nitin Gupta, Dinesh Garg and Ajit Sohail, the police said.

According to the police, Gaurav is a known face in the betting circles of Delhi NCR and has been involved in some cases in the past.

”Gaurav Gupta, Dinesh Garg and Ajit Sohail were in a place called Bheda, near Dubai, for 45 days from April to May this year. They stayed on rent there and during this period, they placed bets on IPL matches and made a lot of profit,” the police said.

”They said the reason why they went to Dubai is that their betting work became easy while staying there,” the police added.

The police also found some forged Aadhar cards and SIM cards bought on fraudulent identities from the accused.