Police bust gang of six for betting on World Cup matches

One of the principal operators, Sanjay Bagaria used to run a betting den under the guise of a share trading firm. He was arrested from his residence in Bangur Avenue.

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Later, the police raided an office at Gayatri Market in Burrabazar which had been registered as an import/export firm and arrested four persons – Bappa Sharma, Bijoy Gupta, Rakesh Gupta and Debu Middha, according to Commissionerate DC (DD), Kankar Prasai Barui.

The DC added that during the raid, the police seized cash amounting to Rs 35, 27,700 , 14 mobile phones, two laptops, three external hard disks, and a cash counting machine.

The police said the gang operated in a circuit covering Rajasthan, New Delhi and West Bengal. “They used a particular DOS-based software to keep record of all the clients and the money they put in. It is an inter-state betting racket and probably has connections outside India as well. We are also looking into whether they only indulged in betting or fixed matches as well,” Barui said.

He added that the gang had focused on one particular country in the ongoing World Cup tournament. “They had invited bets on New Zealand throughout the tournament and the remittance went up to as much as Rs 50 lakh a day.

While Bagaria and Bijoy were the main men here, another operator Manoj Chowdhury was Bagaria’s assistant and Bappa was the carrier of cash,” Barui said, adding that this could just be the tip of the iceberg here with several such betting rackets running across the city with links to different parts of the country.

He added that mostly Kolkata-based people are involved in the betting and more names are likely to come up. “The six would be taken into custody. Once we interrogate these people and report from the forensic lab arrives, we will be able to tell about the number of people and the amount of money involved in the whole system,” Barui said.

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