Krishna: The Andhra Pradesh police busted a betting racket, arresting a total of 18 bookies and punters, and seized Rs 6.45 lakhs in cash, according to Superintendent of Police (SP), Krishna, M Ravindranath Babu.
The Krishna district SP held a press conference in Machilipatnam town on Sunday to inform about the details of the betting racket.
The district police team had received credible information regarding betting taking place in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Based on the information, Nuzividu Rural Sub-Inspector Ranjit Kumar along with his team raided a house in Potureddypalli village on October 6. In the raid, the police team succeeded in arresting 4 bookies, who admitted to their crime. The police team seized seven mobile phones, Rs 45,000 in cash along with other materials from them.
Further based on the information received from them the Nuzividu police formed two teams to apprehend other bookies and punters.
The teams succeeded in catching 14 persons – 9 from Kandukuru, Prakasam district, 4 from Jaggaiahpet, Krishna district, and 1 from Nuzividu, Krishna district. Rs 6 lakhs cash, along with nine mobile phones were seized by the police teams from the accused.
The police have requested various banks, in which the accused have their accounts, to freeze transactions.
A total of 18 persons have been arrested in the case till date, while the search for the kingpins of the betting racket, Rohan and Siva, is still ongoing.
Further investigation is underway.