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Two men were arrested in Mumbai on Saturday for allegedly accepting bets on horse races from across the country. According to police, the accused, who are brothers, accepted bets on horse races at Mahalaxmi race course in Mumbai and in Hyderabad. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch said the duo also accepted bets on online single number lottery or matka. The police believe the duo have agents in Bengaluru and Mysore.
A senior officer from the Crime Branch said, “We conducted raids at a building society near Bhatia hospital in Tardeo and arrested two brothers. They were accepting bets on horse races illegally and would also take money for those participating in matka. We raided their residence and found chits and money they had accepted from several people.”
Another officer said while it is legal to bet on horse races at Mahalaxmi if due procedure is followed, in this case nothing was legitimate and taxes were not paid to the government. “We found several WhatsApp groups on the mobile phones of both the accused through which they would coordinate with those interested in making payments.They only accepted money from those people they knew for a long time. New people were not allowed to place bets,” the officer said.
While the police refused to divulge the names of the accused on the grounds that it would hamper further investigation, they said that the siblings had no prior police record. “The investigation is in its initial stages but we suspect that the duo had a turnover of a few lakhs daily. They used a software to store the betting details, which we are yet to decode,” the officer added. The police have arrested them under relevant sections of the IPC.
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