Cricket betting racket busted; one held

Hyderabad: The sleuths of North Zone Task Force on Saturday busted a cricket betting racket at Kalasiguda and arrested one cricket bookie, while he was accepting betting amount from the punters directly and indirectly, over cell phones for ongoing series of India vs Australia, 3rd ODI Cricket match on Friday and seized Rs 40,800 betting amount, a TV, set top box, one calculator, a note book and two mobile phones from his possession. 

According to the police, accused Mahesh Upadhya (33) is a native of Rajasthan State. His parents migrated from Rajasthan and settled in Kalasiguda, Secunderabad. He is working in CTC, Secunderabad. Initially, he was habituated of betting in cricket as a punter under various cricket bookies and gained knowledge about betting. 

Police said due to insufficient income, he hatched a plan to gain illegal money and was working as a sub-bookie under main bookie Rahul Jadam (absconding). Under supervision of the main bookie, the accused organised cricket betting at his house in the limits of Kalasiguda, Secunderabad and collected betting amount from punters during ongoing cricket matches. He was collecting betting amount from 15 to 20 punters for the ongoing cricket matches. On receipt of information, North zone Task force team laid a trap and nabbed the accused.