Indore Man Held For Sponsoring Women’s Cricket League To Run Online Betting

Bhopal: In perhaps a first of its kind case, a man in Indore in Madhya Pradesh was found sponsoring a women's cricket league, telecasting the matches live on Youtube and running online betting on them, police said on Thursday.

One Anurag Kumar Dalal was arrested on charges under sections 170 (preventive arrest to prevent the commission of a cognizable offence), 126 (wrongful restraint), 135 (3) (prevent breach of peace) of Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in connection with the online cricket betting, Indore deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Alok Sharma said.

According to the police, the accused had developed a unique model of making money through online betting by sponsoring the cricket league, named Female Indore Cricket League, telecasting live the matches on Youtube, informing the clients on the schedules of the matches on social media sites such as Telegram and Youtube, and running the online betting by developing an APP for this.

“A team of policemen raided a house in the Treasure Colony in Indore when the online betting was being operated. Some electronic equipment used for the purpose were seized and one Anurag Kumar Dalal was arrested”, Mr. Sharma said.

The accused has tipped off the alleged involvement of another man, Siddharth Ray of Delhi, in the operation, he said.

A probe was on to find if the women cricketers were paid from the proceeds of the online betting or if they were also part of the operation, he added.

The women crickets would be booked if they would be found involved in the online betting operation, the police officer said.

Online betting is legal in many countries but it is banned in India.

This is the first time a case in which the accused was found sponsoring the cricket league, telecasting the matches live in Youtube and running online betting on the cricket matches, came to light, the police said.