Crime Branch officers raid area, arrest them; say they suspect it to be international-level racket
Accused Digesh Mehta, Dipesh Jain and Piyush Ashar were arrested from Mulund West
Acting on a tip off, Mumbai Crime Branch (CB) officers busted a major cricket-betting racket and arrested three people following raids at a residential apartment on LBS Road in Mulund West. The accused were found placing bets on a Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Night Riders match. The CB suspects the racket to be of an international level.
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The Property Cell and Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the CB conducted the raids on Thursday night. The accused have been identified as Dipesh Jain, 37, Piyush Ashar, 45, and Digesh Mehta, 45. They were produced before court and remanded to CB custody till November 3.
According to CB officers, CIU incharge officer API Sachin Waze received information regarding the racket and then a joint team of the CIU and the Property Cell raided the place and arrested the trio.
"We have seized 41 mobile phones, several SIM cards, a tablet, two laptops, wifi routers, SIM card line boxes, computer and other electronics and Rs 1,88,500 worth of cash," Waze said. Investigation revealed that the accused were using the app Watch Now to place the online bets. "We suspect that online orders for betting were coming from other countries as well. But those placed through mobile phones were only limited to India. Several recordings and other digital evidence have been retrieved from mobile phones and it's being investigated," an officer said.
The offence has been registered at Mulund police station under various sections of the IPC, Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act and IT Act.
A couple of days back Unit 10 of the CB had busted a similar racket in Malad and arrested two accused, who have been involved in illegal betting on IPL matches. In that case the accused were using the website admin.lotusbook247.com to place the bets and orders were taken on mobile phones as well.
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