IPL 'betting racket' that stole live match signals busted

In a sensational turn of events, a ‘betting racket’ surrounding the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been busted. Reportedly, the racket worked by stealing live telecast signals of the matches. The Madhya Pradesh police claimed to have busted the racket that had its workings at an international level. Reportedly, a case under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and IPC has been registered and the probe is underway.

This is not the first time that the glamorous tournament’s glory has been shrouded by controversies. Previously, a huge fixing scandal in the league had been unearthed back in 2013 that had led to major franchises, namely the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) being banned from the IPL for two years.

Live broadcast feed stolen by betting racket

As reported by Sportskeeda, the accused involved in the scam stole the live feed of the matches and got a head start regarding the proceedings of the matches by a time span of eight seconds. According to a senior police official, this move may have helped the accused in placing bets of crores of rupees on matches, and luring others to place bets by offering ‘tips’. The gang ran the website ‘cbtfmagicbox.in’, wherein CBTF stood for `Cricket betting tips for free’

The MP police department arrested Ankit Jain alias Munnu Jockey, an alleged agent of the main accused, from Vidisha town on Friday (May 25). Jain was allegedly in contact with the alleged kingpin of the racket, Amit Majithia. A native of Gujarat, Majithia is suspected to be in Dubai at the moment. According to Superintendent of Police Jitendra Singh of the Indore unit of state Cyber Cell, the probe was started by the police after Star India, the broadcaster for IPL, lodged a complaint.

“It is surprising that the gang was issuing raw feed (feed without advertisements) of IPL matches on its website eight seconds prior to the TV telecast. We suspect that by taking advantage of the eight-second gap, they bet a huge amount of money on matches,” the SP said.  Among the wanted to be accused are Hitesh Khushlani, a builder from Mumbai; Gujarat resident Haresh Chaudhary and his wife Poonam, who are all believed to be abroad presently.

[interaction id=”5b07c3288b3c7b34ee930d29″]

Stay updated on ‘today’s cricket news‘ with CricTracker.com