The police conducted a massive operation after finding that large-scale betting gangs have settled in Hyderabad to cash in on the interest of the audience in the IPL matches.
Three huge betting gangs busted in Hyderabad on the same day. Seven people were arrested in different incidents and Rs1.84 crore was seized.
In IPL season, the Cyberabad police have arrested seven members of gangs operating online betting in various states including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Three others related to these cases are absconding. A huge amount of cash was received from the accused who were involved in betting. 36 phones, three laptops, one tab and an internet router were seized along with Rs 1.84 crore in a bank account.
Podapati Narsingh Rao, a real estate trader from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, has been living in SR Nagar, Hyderabad for several years. Narsingha Rao used to work as a sub-bookie for two bookies, Ganapathi Reddy from Bangalore and Srinivasraju from East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. Narsingh Rao was also allowed to use the six special apps that both of them were using.
Narsingh Rao used to give mobile app user IDs and passwords to punters in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Cash transactions were done through PhonePay, GooglePay and Paytm. After receiving information about their betting activities, Shamshabad SWOT police detained and interrogated Narsing Rao. The main bookies Srinivas and Ganapathi Reddy are absconding. Rs 60 lakh in cash and Rs.32 lakh in bank accounts were seized from Narsingh Rao.