IPL betting racket busted in Sambalpur, 6 held

Sambalpur: Police on Sunday busted an inter-state gang allegedly involved in betting during the ongoing IPL cricket matches and arrested six persons in this connection from the city.

The arrested persons have been identified as Rajesh Agrawal, Sudarsan Mishra, Rajdeep Agrawal, Saroj Kumar Hota, Tapan Kherulal and Akash Agrawal.

The gang had been operating in the city since the start of the IPL matches and used to bet for every ball, over, wicket and other minute aspect of the game, informed Sambalpur SP Sanjeev Arora while addressing a press conference today.

Cash to the tune of Rs 67,000 and 10 mobile phones have been seized from the possession of the accused persons.

“We had inputs that a betting gang was in operation in the city. Subsequently, a special squad was formed to track them and later we raided their hideout and arrested them,” Arora said.

As the involvement of more persons is suspected, further investigation in connection with the betting racket is on.

"We are suspecting that the gang had links with others in Chhattisgarh. Further investigation in this connection is on," Arora added.

Earlier on Thursday, police had busted a similar IPL betting gang operating in Aska of Ganjam district and arrested seven persons and seized cash worth Rs 10,9,800 and 14 mobile phones after a raid.