Ahead of the fourth one-day international between Indian and Australia in Mohali,a betting racket has been busted by the Crime Branch of the Chandigarh Police. The four bookies,who operated from a rented house in Sector 51,had links in Delhi and Mumbai. They were caught red-handed while betting on the third ODI,played in Delhi on Saturday,the police said. The bookies have connections in Delhi and Mumbai. It appears a big gang spread in different states, SP (City) Madhur Verma said in a press conference in the evening. The police have recovered about 100 SIM cards,40 mobile phones,two television sets,three recording devices and one laptop from the house raided,which was used as a base by the accused for a year. The betting,according to the police estimates,went up to millions of rupees. The accused are: Vijay Kumar (45),kingpin of the gang,Sunil Malhotra (31),Shagan Lal (45) and Vicky (29). Vijay is a resident of Sector 15,Panchkula,and the other three accused hail from Abohar district in Punjab,the police said. The SP said the police are verifying details of the SIM cards seized from the house. The accused used to keep a tab on betting rates through Internet. According to them,they have some 25-26 regular clients. In the third ODI,they were betting at the rate of Rs 1:70 paise,and Australia was the favourite team, Verma said. Verma added that betting went up to four to five lakh rupees per client,and the rates changed after every over or every ball. The accused have been booked under sections 420 and 120 of IPC and under 13,2,67 of the Gambling Act.
