Two men betting on India-Australia Champions Trophy semifinal land in Delhi Police custody

“During the raid, two individuals were caught live betting using laptops and mobile phones. Various electronic devices and betting materials were seized from the premises. At the time of the operation, the accused were betting on the semi-final match between India and Australia, which commenced at 2.30 pm,” DCP (Crime) Aditya Gautam said.

Police said there were two ways of placing bets.

One was online; Kochhar had a ‘master ID’ with an online betting website via an associate and used it to sell betting IDs to ‘punters’ (small-scale bookies). Kochhar would receive a 3 per cent commission on every bet, police said.

The second way of taking bets was the ‘traditional’ offline system, police said, which meant the bets would either be made in-person or over calls. In this, the betting rate would be fluctuating, according to demand.

“The premises used for betting operations was rented by Kochhar under his name for Rs 35,000 a month. The syndicate had been running this illegal operation for the past two years. On match days, transactions amounted to approximately Rs 1.5 lakh daily, with profits/losses ranging between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 a day,” DCP Gautam said.

Kumar and Kochhar, both aged 55, are residents of Subhash Nagar in Delhi and are childhood friends, police said.

While Kochhar had a factory in Mundka, Kumar used to have a transport business, which took a heavy financial hit during the Covid lockdowns. The two men had been expanding their betting networks in Delhi for the past two years, police said.

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