© Provided by The Indian Express
The Ahmedabad crime branch arrested 12 persons for allegedly gambling on IPL matches from the Chandkheda area of the city Monday. The accused were found ‘betting’ on the match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore and were using foreign currencies in the bets. Two accused are absconding.
“The racket involved the sale of IDs for various customers who… want to bet or gamble. A link to the website used to surface on their devices to join online betting… Using that link these customers got a WhatsApp link which was a dummy WhatsApp number, created by this gang. On these WhatsApp numbers, they were asked to purchase one of the IDs for gambling. The IDs were created from the two master IDs of Ravi Mali and Jeetu Mali who are absconding,” said a police source.
As per the FIR registered at the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch Monday, the police got the information that one Ravindra alias Ravi Mali alias Dilip Solanki and Jeetu Mali with their associates gathered in bungalow no. 7 of the Royal Orchid in Chandkheda and opened bank accounts under false names. Using these, they were illegally betting online on the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
On reaching the address, the police found 12 people lying on a mattress in a room. Some of them were talking on their phones and some were using their laptops. They were watching the match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore on their phones and laptops, and making some notes in their notebooks.
From one of the accused, Bhavarlal Chaudhary, 19, three phones and one laptop were seized. Chaudhary told the police that he was keeping a check on others present there and the Excel sheet opened on his laptop had information on accounts related to various cricket matches.
“The account of transactions of Ravi Mali and Jeetu Mali were also found to be written. There was also a record on the Excel sheet of a transaction from a master id of online website ‘fairplay’. Various records of transactions from accounts of HDFC, ICICI, IndusInd banks were also available on the sheet,” the FIR states.
Similar records were found on the devices of other accused – Ashokram Sain, 20; Ashokdas Sant, 20; Bhiyaram Dukiya, 19; Prakash Mali, 39; Kishanlal Jat, 21; Asuram Chaudhary, 29; Ghevarchand Jat, 19; Kesharam Chaudhary, 22; Rajendra Prajapati, 19; Sunilkumar Gautam, 23; and Dilipkumar Gautam, 22.
Nepalese rupee, Dirham (UAE), and Indian rupee, among others, were also found from the accused. “Jeetu is in Dubai, and is also wanted in another similar racket which was busted a few days ago by Gandhinagar LCB. They have various such branches running. Ravi’s whereabouts are still not known,’ said VD Dodiya, a sub-inspector at the Ahmedabad crime branch.
As per the FIR, “All the accused used to bet on the IPL matches using the laptops and phones of Ravi and Jeetu and bank accounts of the above were in connection with various accounts of the customers for this purpose. These persons were provided salaries, accommodation and food from the Malis at the Royal Orchid, bungalow no. 7 in Chandkheda.”
The police seized items such as phones, laptops, and currencies worth Rs 4.84 lakh during the raid.
As per the press note from the police, Ravi and Jeetu are wanted in the case, and the remaining 12 have been arrested.
The accused were booked under IPC Sections 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 114 (abettor present when offence is committed); Sections 4 and 5 of the Prevention of Gambling Act; and Sections 66 9(c) and 66 9(d) of the IT Act.