Chennai, May 17 (IANS) Police in Tamil Nadu took into custody six cricket bookies and seized cash, laptops and computers from them here Friday, a day after three Rajasthan Royals players were arrested in Mumbai for allegedly spot-fixing IPL matches in exchange for money.
"Based on a complaint against bookie Harish Bajaj for cheating, we raided his place here and took him into custody. We gathered information about others in the betting business and formed 13 teams and raided 13 locations in the city," S. Rajeswari, superintendent of police at Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CBCID), told reporters here Friday.
The raids were carried out late Thursday night and early Friday morning.
Rajeswari said six people were taken into custody and an investigation is on.
"Based on the call records of the bookies taken into custody, their main contact is in Delhi, who decides the betting percentage. We have the name of a person in Delhi and we have to probe further," she said.
She said their network was big and based on their phone call records, they were in touch with people in Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and others.
Some of the bookies are businessmen and retired people.
About their modus operandi, Rajeswari said the bookies gave a false impression to people that they can decide a match result and enticed them to place bets.
The bookies focus was mainly on the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches.
"They also arrange finances for the wagers to place bets. There have been instances where the bookies have not paid people who have won bets," she said.
She said the betting stakes started from Rs.1,000 and went up to Rs.500,000 and the gain/loss was up to 40 percent of the sum waged. The stakes also change during the match. The payment is made through couriers.
Rajeswari said the probe was in its initial stage and that police have to peruse the documents seized and look into laptops, computers and the phone records to decipher the bookies' network.
Apart from electronic equipment, police have also seized around Rs.14 lakh (Rs.1.4 million) cash from the bookies.
"The seized cash seems to be one day's wager," Rajeswari added.
India fast bowler S. Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals teammates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested in Mumbai by Delhi Police late Wednesday on charges of spot-fixing IPL matches. Eleven bookies were also nabbed.
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