Online cricket betting racket busted, four held

HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad SOT, with the RC Puram police, apprehended an online cricket betting bookie, a sub-bookie, two punters and seized property worth Rs 37 lakh.

The bookies — Ramakrishna Goud and Upender Goud — are brothers and have been collaborating to organise online cricket betting, the police said. The duo operated a website — www.nice7777.pro — to facilitate bets for the ongoing IPL matches. They then engaged known punters and collected money from them through UPI or cash for every match.

Based on credible information, the police discovered that they were organising bets for the Sunday’s matches. Thereafter, the police apprehended Ramakrishna Goud and the two punters.

Based on Ramakrishna’s confession, the cops then apprehended Upender and seized cash worth Rs 18.50 lakh. The police also confiscated Rs 18.37 lakh that the brothers had received from punters. The bank accounts used for online betting have now been frozen, the police said.

The main bookie, Sonu, is, however, along with other punters involved in Sunday’s betting, currently absconding, the police said.