Betting mafia spreads tentacles in Chikkamagaluru district

The betting mafia, which claimed the life of DySP Kallappa Handibag last year, has spread its tentacles in the district.

Information on the crime has been gradually unfolding after a youth, who lost money in betting, approached the police.

The police are said to have been receiving shocking information after they plunged into an investigation based on a complaint filed by Arvind, a resident of Kooduvalli village. It is said that influential persons, children of coffee planters and some businessmen in M G Road are involved in the racket.

The police are looking into the call detail records and bank account details of the arrested suspect. A police source  said that the number of suspects may increase.
The betting mafia has also spread to the neighbouring states.

As soon as Kayi Ravi was arrested, some people, who are involving in betting, have vanished from the scene. Three members of City Municipal Council and a member of Malavoor gram panchayat have fled their places. Some old betters, who were involved in DySP Kallappa suicide and Tejas kidnap incident, have took to their heels, the source said.

Embarrassment to BJP

BJP is said to have been embarrassed due to the arrest of C S Ravikumar who is an active member of the party and a City Municipal Council member.

Also, MLA C T Ravi is embarrassed as an important member of CMC, who is also an ally of the MLA, is involved in the betting case, a senior leader of BJP said.

When the names of some BJP leaders were heard in Kallappa Hadibag case, the party had warned those leaders. P S Ravikumar had then defended himself saying that he was not into betting while the other three had stated that they had suffered losses in betting and are not getting involved in it again. But when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has carried out a surgical strike against black money holders, it became a great embarrassment to the party as some of its members are themselves involved in betting.

Earlier, the three accused City Municipal Council members from BJP, including the arrested, were interrogated by CID officials in Bengaluru and were freed of charges.

Cricket betting: complaint registered

A youth has registered complaint in Basavanahalli police station in Chikkamagaluru against four persons, including a CMC member, for cheating him. Arvind has filed the complaint against CMC member Ravikumar, Malaluru gram panchayat member Hoysala, Prashant and Abhi, stating that they had allured him of profits if he invested his money in cricket betting. Now, they have cheated by not returning the money, he claimed in the complaint.

According to the complaint, Kayi Ravi and Prashant told Arvind to invest money in Big Bash cricket league betting. Arvind took part in the betting by giving Rs 50,000 on December 20. The amount was given by Arvind to the accused during India-England T20 cricket tournament and later, Rs 1 lakh. When Arvind asked for the winning money, the accused refused to give the amount. Hoysala has been conducting Mysuru line betting and has cheated many people, he said in the complaint.