Probe into Kandivli betting racket unveils new digital model of gambling, where apps have made it difficult for cops to trace the masterminds
Bookies seem to have jumped on to the digital India bandwagon, making it difficult for the police to track and arrest them. The recent arrest of five accused by the Crime Branch has led the police to information on the complete digitisation of betting syndicates.
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This is being done primarily to elude investigating agencies, the police said. Mumbai crime branch raided a flat in Kandivli last Tuesday and seized 26 mobile phones, a laptop, six debit/credit card swipe machines, a cash counting machine and over Rs 91,000.
The police arrested five accused in connection with the betting racket on Tuesday — Abdul Kadri, 28, Milind Soni, 29, Manoj Lotalikar, 25, Roni Raichura, 34, and Yusuf Sumra, 51. Some of them are residents of Mumbai, while others hail from Rajkot and Delhi.
Police suspect that these accused have connections with the business community, the Indian film industry and the underworld. Bookies' websites diamondexch9.com and playwin247.com were used by the accused to place bets and used an online application for real-time betting.
Also Read: Mumbai Crime: First betting case of 12th season of IPL registered in Dadar
The police said that they had information about the bookies dealing in crores of rupees with every match of the 12th season of the T20 cricket league. "The big players of the betting racket are hiding in Dubai. The money transfers are done through Angadia (hawala) operators," a police officer said. Crime Branch officials have found that the majority of the bookies are now operating through websites and Android applications — the reason the police is unable to crack the whip on the betting world during this IPL which has coincided with the Lok Sabha Elections.
The accused, during interrogation, have given the police details of their digital network and functioning which has reduced cash and in-person transactions. "It is really tough to track the network given the systematic functioning of the bookies. Nabbing them now purely depends on human intelligence," a Crime Branch officer monitoring the case said.
How it works?
According to the police, the betting syndicate is structured like a tree. There is the owner of the website who never contacts anybody in the link to keep his location and identity discreet. There is one Super Master bookie who appoints Master bookies at several locations (in megacities or towns). "Super Master appoints trustworthy people as Masters and allots them coins/points in exchange of money. For instance, if a Master has R1crore, then he sends this amount to the Super Master through hawala and gets points in return," the police said.
Super Master bookie also provides the Master bookies with special access to the website and applications to create any number of usernames and passwords for people who wish to bet through him. The Master bookies then accept betting requests from people belonging to his city or whom he trusts. For example, a person buying points against money can bet on cricket matches (ball to ball run, wickets, boundaries, win or lose, batting performance etc) and once the match concludes, all the statistics is displayed on his/her website/app dashboard. Accordingly, money is then transferred to the bettor.
Also Read: Mumbai Crime: Three arrested for taking bets on IPL match in Thane
Bets on LS 2019
Earlier, bookies used to operate manually by accepting bets over phone calls and noting them down in a book. After the match concluded, they would calculate the results. But with everything digitised, people can now play from anywhere anytime. The website and mobile application also allow bets on the on-going Lok Sabha elections, football league and several other such crucial events.
Items seized from arrested bookies
- 26 mobile phones
- 1 laptop
- 6 debit/credit card swipe machines
- 1 cash counting machine
- Rs 91,000
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