Shivdeep Lande, DCP ANC, who headed the team visited the spot where they found people inside the Room no 203 of Hotel Balwas, Khetwadi in Grant Road
The accused
The Anti Narcotics Cell of Mumbai Police on Saturday busted a multi-crore betting racket in south Mumbai related to ongoing World Cup and arrested two bookies. According to the police, on June 22, they received a specific input regarding the betting from south Mumbai hotel. After the input, the officials informed CP Mumbai Police who instructed them to go raid the place. The bookies were accepting bets on the ongoing cricket World Cup matches and their diary entries showed transactions of around Rs 14 crore in the last 11 days.
Shivdeep Lande, DCP ANC, who headed the team visited the spot where they found people inside the Room no 203 of Hotel Balwas, Khetwadi in Grant Road. When the police reached the spot, they found two persons were accepting bets on their mobile phones when the West Indies vs New Zealand Cricket World Cup match was on. The police team found that one person was doing a live commentary of the match on the phone and based on that these two bookies were placing bets. As per their communication, the match was tough and rate for West Indies was 78 paise for one rupee
The police arrested two bookies while accepting betting on mobile phones for New Zealand vs West Indies match, which was broadcasted live on Saturday. The arrested accused identified as Vishwas Kishan Takalkar, 51, is a resident of Masjid and Ajay Kantraj, 24 is a resident of Airport Road in Bengaluru.
"The diary seized during the raid indicates that the accused accepted bets from different punters for different matches from June 11 and the betting amount collected during that period is around Rs 14 crore," DCP Lande said. The accused booked the hotel room in the last few days, from where they were accepting bets, the official said. Police have recovered eight mobile phones, one LCD screen and cash of Rs 9,470 from the hotel room, he added. An offence under sections of the Gambling Act and the Indian Telegraph Act has been registered against the accused at D B Marg Police Station, he said. The hunt for the kingpin of the racket is on, Lande said, adding that the duo was handed over to local police station for further probe.
Lande said, "We have busted the gang and filed a case to DB Marg police. The accused have been booked under 4a, and 5 of Gambling Act and section 25(c) of the Indian Telegraph Act. There is a kingpin who is behind the racket is still wanted. He is the same man who was continuously providing the ball to ball update. We are looking for him."
On Sunday, both the accused were produced before the court where they got the bail. According to the advocate of the accused, "I applied for provisional cash bail with time to furnish surety but my application was rejected by the Court. Thereafter I filed an application for permission to furnish surety before D B Marg Police station or permission to cash bail. After arguing that in the bailable offence the accused has a right to release on bail magistrate granted cash bail of Rs 30,000 with four days time to furnish surety."
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