Multi-crore cricket betting racket busted, two bookies held

The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Mumbai police has busted a multi-crore betting racket here and arrested two bookies, an official said Sunday.

The bookies were accepting bets on the ongoing cricket World Cup matches and their diary entries showed transactions of around Rs 14 crore in the last 11 days, the official said.

"Based on a tip-off, an ANC team Saturday raided a room on the 12th floor of Hotel Balwas at Khetwadi on Grant Road," Deputy Commissioner of Police, ANC, Shivdeep Lande, said.

Police found that two persons were accepting bets on their mobile phones when the West Indies vs New Zealand cricket World Cup match was on, he said.

During their interrogation, the police team found that one person was doing a live commentary of the match on the phone and based on that these two bookies were placing bets, he said.

As per their communication, the match was tough and rate for West Indies was 78 paise for one rupee, Lande said.

The arrested accused have been identified as Vishwas Kishan Takalkar (51), a resident of Musafir Khana in central Mumbai, and Ajay Kantraj (24), a resident of Bengaluru, he said.

The person, who was doing the live commentary of the match, is also an accused in the case, he said.

"The diary seized during the raid indicates that the accused accepted bets from different punters for different matches from June 11 and the betting amount collected during that period is around Rs 14 crore," the DCP said.

The accused booked the hotel room in the last few days, from where they were accepting bets, the official said.

Police have recovered eight mobile phones, one LCD screen and cash of Rs 9,470 from the hotel room, he added.

An offence under sections of the Gambling Act and the Indian Telegraph Act has been registered against the accused at D B Marg Police Station, he said.

The hunt for the kingpin of the racket is on, Lande said, adding that the duo was handed over to local police station for further probe.