Major betting scandal uncovered by Income Tax officials in different Indian cities

The Indian Income Tax department carried out raids in multiple cities across the country in a bid to crack down on a huge betting racket. This news comes across a day after the India vs New Zealand 1st T20I and less than a fortnight after a sting operation of the pitch curator Pandurang Salgaonkar who was alleged to have agreed to take a huge sum of money to tamper with the pitch.

The betting racket was found to be operating out of a private residence in Gurgaon. The ring that has been busted is reported to have involved some expensive gadgets alongside concealed telephones, which may have been used for communicating with the other members in a secretive manner.

These raids were conducted after the sleuths received information during their investigation of the casinos in Goa, where they got leads about the operators indulging in betting on quite a large scale. Other than Goa and Gurgaon, the raids were carried out in Kolkata, New Delhi and Noida.

The recovery

According to a report in Sportskeeda, items such as smartphones, laptop, big dish antennas, modem and a high mast antenna was recovered. It was described by authorities as “one of the biggest cricket betting rackets” in recent times.

While there hasn’t been an official statement yet by the BCCI or if any match has come under the scanner, the revelations seem serious. Betting is illegal in India but despite that, there is a large presence of betting syndicates in various parts of the country.

In 2000, a major controversy broke out in Indian cricket when prominent cricketers were handed life bans after they were found to have links with bookies. Sreesaanth also got in trouble in the IPL 2013 fixing gate after he was captured with bookie Jinu Janardhan. As of recent, Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed reported to Pakistan Cricket Board, after he was approached by a bookmaker to fix matches.