IPL betting racket busted in city, 3 held

Lucknow: In a joint operation, the Naka Hindola police along with the west zone surveillance unit arrested three men allegedly involved in online betting on IPL matches and recovered cash, mobile phones and a laptop from their possession.The arrests were made late on Saturday night following a tip-off about betting activities being operated from the Dugawan area under the Naka Hindola police station. The accused were caught near Birhana Park at around 9.15 pm. “The arrested accused have been identified as Saurabh Kumar, 36, a resident of Kurmi Tola in Hussainganj, Prem Shankar, 36, a resident of Jai Narayan Road in Hussainganj and Rishu Sonkar, 47, a resident of Dugawan Raniganj in Naka Hindola,” said Abhinav Verma, SHO, Naka.According to the police, the accused were allegedly placing online bets on IPL matches involving wins and losses. “During the raid, the police recovered ₹1.28 lakh in cash, a laptop, six smartphones, two feature phones and a diary allegedly containing betting-related details,”A case was registered under Section 13 of the Gambling Act and Section 112 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Naka Hindola police station. Legal proceedings are underway.