3 bookies arrested for betting during India-Pakistan match
Delhi Police’s crime branch on Sunday arrested three men for allegedly betting during the India-Pakistan ICC Champions Trophy final match.
With the arrest, the police recovered 10 mobile phones fixed in briefcases used as lines to transmit betting rates, 16 mobile phones, three laptops and two LCDs.
The men, identified as Rajesh Kumar, Nitin Arora and Nitin Grover, were arrested from a guest house located at Alipur Road in Civil Lines area of north Delhi.
According to police, they received a tip-off that betting is going on inside a guest house during the match. Based on this information, they laid a trap and nabbed the three alleged bookies.
Police said that during questioning, the men admitted to have been running a book on Sunday and booking bets. They revealed that they do the same during all international and cricket matches, police said.
“They used to run the book, receive bets on the mobile phones from people known as ‘punters’ in the betting language, and gave them rates of the match by ‘dabba’( a live mobile phone line used to transmit the rate of the match and fluctuations from ball to ball),” said Madhur Verma, DCP (north).
“They record the bets in the laptops. At the end of the match, they calculate the total bets, and profit and loss incurred by each punter who bets in the running match,” he added.
According to Verma, the men used to book a room in a hotel or guest house in a posh locality during every match.
“Police had been keeping a close watch on them, which was why they booked hotel rooms rather than sitting at their own homes. The concerned police stations have been informed regarding the arrest of the bookies and efforts are being made to arrest the others,” Verma said.