India: 4 arrested in connection with cricket betting transactions
Ahmedabad police are investigating the men for “hawala transactions” linked to cricket betting worth Rs 1800 crore.
India.- Four people have been arrested by the Ahmedabad police’s Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB) team for allegedly engaging in illegal transactions worth Rs 1,800 crore relating to cricket betting. All four have been charged under the Gujarat Prevention of Gambling Act 1887, Information Technology Act 2000 and the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.
The police allege that those arrested dealt with known bookies who are operating from Dubai. They the allegedly used the office of Mahavir Enterprises to conduct transactions using dummy bank accounts.
Several illegal betting apps were reportedly used, including Mahadev Book, CBTF247 and Cricketbet9. According to a first information report (FIR) filed with the Madhavpura police by Jagdevsinh Charan, one of the PCB’s ASIs, a man named Harshit Jain, who owns Mahavir Enterprises, allegedly operated an online gaming business and held nearly 540 fake bank accounts.
Customers would access the bank accounts provided by bookies for transactions. Harshit allegedly received 3.5 per cent for every transaction made. Transactions in dummy accounts totalled more than Rs 70 crore per month since 2021. Account holders earned Rs 5000-10000 commission monthly.
Police seized seven mobile phones, three laptops, 536 chequebooks, 538 debit cards, 14 POS machines from different banks, one router, 193 SIM cards and seven PAN cards. The scam is believed to have been operating since 2021.
Arrests for cricket betting are fairly common in India. In 2022, Police in Delhi arrested 3,502 people in 1,489 raids related to illegal gambling.
