IPL betting racket run on WhatsApp busted; engineering students involved

A major Indian Premier League betting racket involving engineering students run on Whatsapp was busted by Andhra Pradesh police. Four bookies were taken into custody and a majority of students were identified, said Guntur Rural SP S.V. Rajasekhara Babu.

Rajasekhara Babu also said that students from Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and other states invested a huge sum of money in the ongoing IPL matches. Pasupuleti Nagarjuna, an MBA student from Guntur contacted the bookies who created a WhatsApp group to organise betting.

Rajasekhara Babu said that, “Keeping in view their future, the police have not arrested the students. We summoned the parents of the punters and counselled them. The police will maintain a vigil on the students. As there are many social media groups organising bettings, we have alerted the parents to keep a watch on them.”

The online betting racket had network spanning to several states and punters were allowed to join the WhatsApp group after paying amounts between 5,000 to 25,000. The modus operandi of the group was to invite punters and once they paid money the bookies would provide them with passwords.

The police also recovered mobile phones and laptops. 22.16 lakhs cash was seized from the accused. They have been charged under A.P gaming act, IT act and other IPC sections.

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