World Cup 2019: Betting racket busted, 4 including a sub-inspector caught red-handed

When the cricket World Cup is in full swing, how can the betting racket be far off? On Tuesday, police in Mumbai raided a hotel in Dadar East to catch hold of a cricket betting racket. The raid was conducted by senior inspector Bharat Bhoite. Four persons were arrested in the raid and they included a police sub-inspector from Byculla in South Mumbai.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the four arrested were found using a web portal for conducting the betting activities. The four men, who were in a room at the seventh floor of Ramee Guestline Hotel, were identified as Manish Vijay Singh (31), Mikin Shah (33), Prakash Ghanshyam (32) and sub-inspector Gyaneshwar Kharmate. Even mobile phones worth Rs 1.93 crore were recovered from the gang.

As per the report, two other accused – Panter and Mehul Jain – were believed to be coordinating with the four over the phone. The duo, who were accused to be handlers of the website for bookies, were absconding.

Betting was on England-Australia match

The accused persons were allegedly betting on the England-Australia match at the World Cup which took place on June 25. Australia won the match by 64 runs after scoring 285 and became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals. For England, it was the second successive loss after their defeat against Sri Lanka and the Three Lions now have to win both their remaining games against India and New Zealand.

With the showpiece event approaching its business end and three of the four semi-finalists yet not confirmed, betting rackets will be active, putting the sleuths under added pressure.

The four arrested were booked under the Public Gambling Act. They were produced in Bhoiwada Court in Mumbai on Wednesday and released on bail.

The involvement of police personnel in the incident surprised a lot of people. The police were also yet to ascertain the role of the sub-inspector. “During the inquiry, he claimed to be a friend of Mikin… We are investigating whether he was getting monetary benefits from the racket, or was himself involved in the betting circles,” the IE report quoted an officer as saying.

The sub-inspector was suspended on Wednesday.