Porvorim: Six persons from Gujarat, Rajasthan, and West Bengal were arrested for allegedly operating an online IPL betting racket from a rented premises in Sangolda village.
The raid was conducted by the Cyber Crime Police Station on the intervening night of April 15 and 16, during which the accused were caught allegedly accepting cricket bets through online applications linked to ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches.
Police said the accused were operating the betting activities through the MG Lion and Kabook 1 apps using multiple mobile phones connected through Wi-Fi networks registered under different names and credentials.
The accused have been identified as Gediya Raj Dilipbhai and Nilesh Ratibhai Hirani, both from Surat in Gujarat, Bhimraj Meena from Udaipur in Rajasthan, Shani Dipakbhai Chavada from Surat, Rokad Yash Jaysukhbhai from Amreli in Gujarat, and Prashant Harish Trivedi from Bardhaman in West Bengal.
During the raid, police attached six laptops, cash worth Rs 31,000, 50 ATM cards, several mule account kits, and mobile phones collectively valued at around Rs 10 lakh.
According to the Cyber Crime Police, the accused allegedly routed betting proceeds through multiple mule accounts operated by them while also using fake identities and credentials, thereby committing identity theft to facilitate gambling operations.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime) Raju Raut Desai by a team led by Police Inspector Deepak Pednekar.
All six accused have been booked under Section 66-C of the Information Technology Act, read with Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, besides Sections 3 and 4 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act.
Police said they are in the process of seeking custody remand of the accused for further investigation into the betting network and the mule accounts used in the operation.
