Organisers operating out of paan, chai shops, some prefer the outskirts
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Hyderabad: Betting on the on-going Cricket World Cup is on in full swing in Hyderabad and the outskirts. Though the police has raided a few places, the big sharks are yet to be trapped.
Sources say that the organisers use SIM cards from other states to call punters to place bets. The India vs. Pakistan and India vs. South Africa matches have received the maximum bets so far.
Meanwhile, as special teams of the city police are cracking down on the racket, many organisers have moved to the city’s outskirts. Hyderabad and Cyberabad police records have more than 200 betting organisers. They have been caught in the past and their details have been maintained by the police to keep a watch on them during the cricket season.
The police raids the dens based on tip-offs from informants and old offenders, but when new players enter the scenario, it becomes tough for the cops to track them. In the twin cities and the old city, organisers find the least expected places to organise betting rackets. “Residential buildings, Irani chai shops and even paan shops are their dens. Most of them are well prepared for a police raid and can easily hide evidences minutes before the cops arrive,” said a commissioner’s Task Force official.
Major part of the operation is carried out over phone by the organisers, thereby avoiding any suspicion in the locality where they are operating in. “An organiser named Medicharla Venkateshwar Rao from Nallakunta, whom we caught on Sunday, had more than 15 punters. All of them would not come to his place, but keep in touch through conference calls,” said East Zone Task Force sub-inspector, A. Sudhakar.
The betting process is too spontaneous and the betting odds keep changing as the match progresses. “The organiser is the one who controls the betting, and money for the punters. He gets a 10 per cent (or more) share on each bet.
“There are bets for each over, and as the match progresses, and one team move towards victory, the punters get new odds,” said a Task Force cop. So far, the Hyderabad police has busted more than seven betting gangs. As the raids started, the cops realised that several habitual organisers were missing from the city. Cops suspect they must have set up their dens on the city’s outskirts.
Police busts 2 cricket-betting gangs, 12 held:
The Hyderabad police busted two cricket betting gangs on Sunday after raiding different places while the India Vs South Africa match was going on.
In the first raid, Commissioner’s Task Force team from South Zone arrested 11 persons, who were allegedly betting, in a house at Bahadurpura. In another raid, the Task Force team from East Zone raided a house at Sai Sri Saket Apartments in New Nallakunta, and arrested an organiser.
( Source : dc )
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