New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) An online IPL betting racket operating from the Madhu Vihar area of Delhi was busted by the Anti Auto Theft Squad (AATS) of East District Police, and three persons involved in illegal gambling activities during the ongoing IPL T-20 matches were arrested, officials said on Monday.

According to an official press release issued by Delhi Police on Sunday, the accused were apprehended while allegedly conducting online betting during the IPL match between Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings.

Police said the operation was carried out as part of a “sustained drive against illegal betting and gambling activities during IPL matches.”

The accused have been identified as Manish Jain (50), a resident of Madhu Vihar, Abhishek Jain (26) from Jagat Puri, and Arpit Gupta (40) of Mandawali Unche Par. Police said Manish Jain was allegedly operating the betting racket from his residence, while the other two accused were assisting him in the operation.

The raid was conducted on May 23 at around 6 p.m. after police received specific intelligence regarding illegal online IPL betting activities. Acting on the information and after obtaining a search warrant, a police team raided the premises in Madhu Vihar.

“Upon reaching the upper floor of the premises, three persons were found sitting in the drawing room with laptops, tablets, mobile phones and handwritten betting records,” the officials stated.

Police added that live streaming of the IPL match was running on tablet devices, and the accused were allegedly coordinating betting activities with punters through phone calls.

According to investigators, the accused attempted to flee after noticing the police team, but were overpowered and apprehended on the spot.

During the raid, police recovered two Dell laptops, two Samsung tablets, nine mobile phones, a notepad containing handwritten betting entries and other betting-related records. The officials further stated that the accused were allegedly using betting applications and software, including ‘Sky Live Pro’, ‘Data Calculation Ver 1.0’ and ‘Skyexch’ to monitor live betting odds and maintain betting accounts.

Investigators noted that the accused persons were using laptops, tablets and multiple mobile phones for communicating betting rates, accepting wagers and maintaining betting transaction records.

Police said further investigation is underway to trace the wider network, examine financial transactions and identify other persons linked to the online betting syndicate.

The operation was conducted under the supervision of ACP Operations East Pawan Kumar and Inspector Anand Singh, in-charge of AATS/East District, along with a dedicated police team comprising SI Vikram Singh, SI Sandeep Singh, ASI Rajiv Kumar, ASI Ajay, HC Vikrant and HC Krishan.

–IANS

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