Bhubaneswar: With fever of the IPL match gripping people, reports of cases of betting in Odisha has increased by leap and bounds. If sources are to be believed, almost every ball is being bet.
Close on the heels of seven people being arrested in connection with betting in Aska in Ganjam on April 26, police on Sunday busted an IPL cricket-betting racket and arrested six persons on Saturday night from a petrol pump in Sambalpur Sadar police station. Police also seized Rs 67,000 from them.
Acting on a tip off, the police on Sunday raided on a petrol pump near Sindurpank and arrested the six. The accused are - Rajesh Agrawalla, 44, of Rengali, Sudarshan Mishra, 32, of Rengali, Rahdeep Agarwalla, 41, of Sasan, Saroj Kumar Hota, 37, of SRIP colony, Tapan Kherua, 28, of Khetrajpur and Akash Agrawalla, 22, of Khetrajpur.
The police also seized 10 mobile phones and calculators from them. Sambalpur police superintendent Sanjeev Arora said: "The accused were running betting racket through mobile phones. The main bookies belong to Chhattisgarh. We are investing the matter and are in touch with our counterparts in Chhattisgarh."
Investigators said that the accused were involved in betting during the Chennai and Mumbai IPL cricket matches on Saturday night.
Most bets centred around M.S. Dhoni. Each ball Dhoni faced was bet on whether he would hit a six or a four. There was also betting on the batting order.
The accused persons were using an app for betting. "It was online betting with its root in outside the state. We will take the help of cyber police and specialised cyber crime experts to further investigate the case," said another local police officer.
On April 26, Police had arrested seven persons on charge of betting in the IPL matches between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab XI. The police had also seized cash of Rs 10.09 lakh and 14 mobile phones from their possession.
Additional reporting by Subhas Panigrahi in Sambalpur