Cricket betting racket busted in Bengaluru, cook-turned-bookie arrested

BENGALURU: In a major crackdown on online cricket betting, Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths have busted a racket in which bookies operated using foreign phone numbers to contact other bookies and punters. The racket was in full swing for the ongoing IPL matches, and police suspect that it has connections with syndicates both in India and beyond.
Police said they have arrested one of the bookies — south Bengaluru resident Ramakrishna N — and investigations led to the seizure of Rs 14 lakh from his bank accounts and a mobile phone.
A senior police officer said Ramakrishna claims to work as a cook who is into catering. However, he was involved in the cricket betting racket in the last few years.
The special inquiry squad of CCB received information about the online betting racket on April 3.
A team, headed by inspector Dayananda MJ, collected more details about the bookie and learnt that Ramakrishna was running the racket from his home at Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, Banashankari III Stage.
Ramakrishna would contact punters over phone and take money from them to provide login IDs and passwords for a betting app (Lotus). He collected money from punters and paid those who won the bets.
The police team raided Ramakrishna's house. During interrogation, he told police he was in contact with a bookie in Hubballi, identified as Ravikanthe Gowda, operating with the phone number +44 7553388193. He had allegedly introduced Ramakrishna to a company named ‘Amar Trading', operating with the number +44 7365729142.
Ramakrishna was provided user IDs such as ‘bhagegouda', ‘bigbull247', and ‘revannanrk', along with the passwords. He had contact with close to 100 punters who would bet on each IPL match. Ramakrishna would contact the punters on WhatsApp and share the login IDs and passwords.
He created a WhatsApp group named Amar Trading Company Subscribers and prepared a broadcast list to mediate betting. Ramakrishna shared a QR code for placing bets, and if a punter won, he would transfer the money to the winner through a digital payment app.
He was paid Rs 25,000 as salary from Amar Trading and also received a commission from punters who won. He is suspected to have been operating in Bengaluru for at least two years and organised betting for international matches also, including the ICC Champions Trophy.
Three bank accounts were found linked to his mobile number. Police froze Rs 13.5 lakh in one of the accounts, Rs 33,818 in the second, and Rs 5,619 in the third. All three accounts were opened in different banks at Kathriguppe.
Police, who collected the details of the bank accounts of Ravikanthe Gowda and Amar Trading, initiated the process of freezing them. "It appears the main bookies operating from Hubballi had given false names to Ramakrishna. So, we have asked the banks to provide the details of the beneficiary bank accounts," a senior officer said.
A case has been registered at CK Achukattu police station under the Karnataka Police Act, and CCB is investigating the matter.
Foreign SIM cards used to avoid tracking
The bookies in touch with Ramarksihan would use SIM cards sourced from the United Kingdom through couriers. They would use the SIM cards to avoid police tracking their activities and availing call detail records.
"We have learned that the bookies operating from Hubballi are part of a syndicate operating across India and internationally. Transactions have taken place in multiple bank accounts. Efforts are ongoing to nab others involved in it," a senior police officer said.