Police arrest six bookies for betting on live matches

The city police have arrested six bookies involved in cricket betting from the stadium and grounds in the Central Business District (CBD).

The Cubbon Park police registered two separate cases under sections of the Karnataka Police Act on October 18 and 20. They held four people in one case and two in the other.

The police identified the accused involved in the first case as Kailash, Deepak, Hemanth Prakash Chandran and Dheeresh Dewan, all in their late 20s with roots in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. All of them were self-employed, who run mobile shops and other small establishments.

On receiving information that the accused were involved in open betting, the police rushed to the spot and arrested them at 8 pm on October 18 at BRV Grounds on Central Street, where they were found betting on the Afghanistan Premier League, which they watched on their mobile phones.

On October 20, the Cubbon Park police arrested two bookies from inside the M Chinnaswamy stadium while they engaged in betting during a live cricket match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, involving Mumbai and Delhi. The police identified them as Sugriva Reddy, an event manager, and Kishore Kumar, a driver. Both belong to Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

The police say Reddy and Kumar announced the challenges on an England-based website betfair.com.

Their challenges are around runs scored or wickets fallen in a particular over. The bookies had an upper hand since they had access to the live match and learnt about the outcome of the bets in advance due to the 20-second gap in transmission.

They became "game changers" at the end of the over, while also earning several thousands in commission by asking their associates to place or not to place the bets, an investigating officer said.

"They have told us that they chose the city for betting. We are interrogating the accused to ascertain if they are a part of a bigger gang," said a senior police officer.