Raiganj, Sept. 1: A morning swoop on two public call offices this morning exposed a thriving satta racket in Delhi that was being conducted from North Dinajpur.

Eleven satta bookies were arrested during the raid.

“We are getting vital inputs after interrogating those arrested and we hope to get to the bottom of the racket fairly soon. The illegal numbers game was going on ever since the state government banned all forms of single-digit lotteries,” said district police superintendent Nabarun Bhattacharya.

He said cash worth Rs 18,590, a motorcycle, a gold chain and a large number of documents connected were seized.

The arrested bookies have reportedly told the police that the single-digit numbers game had been going on in every bus stand, market place and even in roadside tea stall and lanes in the district’s towns. Police said the bookies told them that there were about 800 spots in the district where one could place the bets.

The interrogation revealed that betting opened at 12 noon and again at 5 pm to coincide with the drawing of numbers in Delhi.

The phones begin to ring for a response from Delhi about the lucky number of the day. The bets were then distributed to the lucky winners.

Police sources said such lotteries were openly played in Raiganj even until a few years ago. But after the government banned the game, the entire operation went underground till today’s crackdown.

One of the arrested bookies, Amar Pal, told the police that all steps were taken to ensure that those playing satta had full protection from the police. The bookies made the rounds and called up customers for their bets.

“The bookie said that they used codes instead of uttering numbers over phone,” a police officer who interrogated Pal said.

For instance, the number 1 was referred to as lathi, 2 was haans (duck), 3 was singara, 4 was boundary, 5 was Congress (for its hand symbol), 6 was over-boundary, 7 was kodal (shovel), 8 was spectacles, 9 was jahaaj, and 0 was rosogolla.

“You cannot end the racket just by arresting the bookies. We want to launch a movement to create awareness among the youths who have been affected adversely by this racket,” said municipal vice-chairman Milon Chowdhury.

“The game sparked tension between rival gangs and skirmishes were not uncommon in some parts of the town,” Chowdhury said.

He recalled that in 2000 a youth called Tumpa Ghosh was murdered in connection with satta.