Five bookies have been arrested under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Three of them, including Kiran Bala and Tommy Patel are from Ahmadabad. The other two, including Ritesh Bansal, are from Delhi. Interestingly, invoking PMLA Act in all the arrests, the ED has ensured that the accused don't get out on bail.
The dirt of betting and fixing in the IPL has yet again reared its ugly head. A massive betting and money laundering racket has been unearthed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after a series of raid in several cities across India. ED officials believe that many matches of this season of the IPL could also have been fixed.
Five bookies have been arrested under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Three of them, including Kiran Bala and Tommy Patel are from Ahmadabad. The other two, including Ritesh Bansal, are from Delhi. Interestingly, invoking PMLA Act in all the arrests, the ED has ensured that the accused don't get out on bail.
Led by its Ahmadabad team, the ED, in a synchronised operation, raided multiple locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Gurgaon. The raids are expected to continue in the next few days and were on in Delhi at the time of going to press.
ED has nabbed one Ritesh Bansal alias Bharat from Delhi, who is believed to have multiple operatives based in the UK. Huge bets on IPL matches were being placed through the British website betfair.com.
Bansal is believed to have at least 10 operatives in London who opened accounts on the website. His operatives were crucial in the betting process since it is mandatory to have a UK account to bet through the website. Bets from India were being placed through these operatives. A case has been registered against Bansal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and his interrogation is expected to continue to reveal more links in the betting racket.
ED sources indicate bets ranging from Rs 600 to 800 crore were being placed on every match in the ongoing season of the IPL. The ED has found some Skype addresses, indicating involvement of a few bookies from Pakistan and Dubai in placing bets in the ongoing IPL series.
The ED believes that a bookie named Mukesh Sharma was buying login IDs and passwords from UK and selling it for a premium to Indian bookies. It is through these accounts that bets were being placed. Since betting is illegal in India, these accounts were being used to place huge bets on various IPL matches. ED sources say three prominent names involved in betting are Chottu in Nagpur, Bhatia in Mumbai and Manan in Jaipur. "We know these are pseudo names, but we are trying to find their 'real' identities,'' ED sources said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=logo}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}