Two persons have been arrested in Dhanbad for running an IPL betting racket while police have launched a manhunt for a third member of the gang.
A laptop, two passports and eight mobile phones were among various incriminating belongings found on Amit Bothra and Sandip Agarwal - aged between 30 and 35 years - during separate raids in Saraidhela and Chirkunda areas of the district on Sunday night, as Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore clashed in Raipur, and the latter won by six wickets to make it to the play-offs.
The arrests followed a tip-off that Dhanbad was an active link in a nationwide network of illegal bookies, most of them operating from Delhi, Calcutta and Rajasthan.
SSP Surendra Kumar Jha told reporters that they were looking for one Vivek Agarwal, who is also in his thirties, and suspected that several others in Jharia, Maithon and Govindpur were part of the betting scandal. "More raids will be conducted and more arrests made. We have requested the government to hand over the probe to an agency (read SIT or CBI) since the scandal is not restricted to the state," he said.
A team led by DSP (law and order) D.N. Banka first raided at Flat 601 in Subala Garden apartments at Saraidhela around 10.30pm on Sunday. Bothra was then watching the Delhi-Bangalore match and talking to someone over phone. On being grilled, he named Sandip Agarwal of Mirchi Gali, Chirkunda. A separate team rushed to Chirkunda and arrested Agarwal.
Jha said the duo were part of the central network of bookies, also known as " tota line" in betting parlance.
"Registration of local bookies with the tota line is necessary to run the scam. A certain rate is fixed by the tota line for every over of a match in anticipation of runs to be scored. Transactions were carried out online. Sandip Agarwal, Amit Bothra and Vivek Agarwal communicated the same to people willing to place bet and earned commission in return," the SSP explained.
With the IPL climax nearing, Dhanbad police are now mulling help from their Delhi and Calcutta counterparts to unearth the entire network and arrest the kingpin.
