Betting on WC final: Cops stump Ludhiana bookies

Ludhiana: At a time when England and New Zealand were engaged in a nail-biting finish at the Cricket World Cup at the Lord’s on Sunday night, two bookies in Ludhiana were busy placing bets on the encounter, hoping to cash in on the cricket’s biggest tournament.

The bookies were even keeping track of betting rates through apps, which were legal in England, but their fortunes ran out of luck as cops from Ludhiana rural police raided the place and nabbed the duo.

Police said the arrests could be tip of the iceberg as the duo is suspected to be part of a bigger nexus operating in the city.

The accused were identified as Bharat Mangla, 26, of Shastri Nagar area in Jagraon and Rohit Kumar, 33, of Mohalla Rithian near Nalkian Chowk in Jagraon.

“As the betting business is legal in England, the accused had downloaded betting apps to get current rates of players and teams in the betting world. These apps helped them in getting minute-to-minute price for each player and the teams and they would convey the same to their customers over the phone,” Ludhiana Rural SSP Varinder Singh Brar said.

Cops received a tip-off on the miscreants, who are believed to part of a big betting racket, he added.

The accused were apprehended from an SUV (PB25F-4193) when they were accepting bets from their customers during the match. Police also seized two mobile phones and a paper used for accepting bets from the accused.

City Jagraon Police later booked the accused under provisions of the Gambling Act and Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC.

ASI Janak Raj, investigating officer, said the accused had just started to accept bets from their contacts over the phone when they were arrested. In half an hour alone, Bharat had accepted bets from six persons, while his accomplice had accepted bets from four persons. People who placed bets of Rs 6 to 8 lakh were from Bathinda, Rampura Phull, Jagraon and other areas. Besides call records, the bank accounts of accused and other suspects would be scrutinized, cops said.

Police said preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were smaller bookies, but were associated with full-time bookies in Ludhiana. The accused who are Class XII passouts are well versed with the trade.

Police said about seven years ago, the accused had worked with a money exchanger, who was also into an illegal business of betting. They have been involved in betting since then. Police said the duo did not use any code to communicate with their customers and interacted with them in a plain language.