The gang of bookies arrested in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, March 25: The city police busted a betting racket with the arrest of three persons last night during the World Cup quarter final match between India and Australia. India won the match, thereby knocking the defending champions out of the World Cup.

The police seized 10 mobile phones, one laptop, some notebooks and cash worth Rs 1.12 lakh from the alleged bookies.

Sources said the Kharvela Nagar police raided a thatched house under the Satya Nagar railway overbridge following a tip-off. There the police apparently found a group of people engaged in betting. Three of them were arrested while the others managed to escape.

The accused were identified as Girija Shankar Sharma (41), Mukesh Bhimrajka (44) and Surya Prakash Chotia (45).

Deputy commissioner of police, Himanshu Lal said that the accused were arrested under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property)/ 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of the Orissa Prevention of Gambling Act.

Police said the accused, who originally belonged to Rajasthan, had been staying in Cuttack for the last few months. They started taking bets on the teams taking part in the World Cup since the beginning of the tournament.

The bookies operated through mobile phones. The bigger amounts were transferred through bank deposits. Small bets were accepted and money disbursed in cash in the thatched hut under the bridge. The notebooks seized from the accused showed that they used a code language.

While the Roman letter L stood for the Hindi word lia indicating a win, K denoted the Hindi word khoya meaning loss.

When the raid was conducted, the accused were watching the match using an internet connection and were placing bets on each ball and over besides the final result of the match.

The winners would have taken away 50 per cent more than the amount staked by them. The accused said cash worth Rs 4 lakh had already changed hands through betting before their arrest last night.

Police suspect that the betting racket is being controlled from outside Orissa. “We are investigating the matter,” said DCP Himanshu Lal.