A recent crackdown by the police on IPL betting has led to a sensational disclosure that big bookies in the gambling have been running their operations from remote Naxal-infested villages of Chhattisgarh.
Call details recorded from mobile phones seized during raids at several betting dens here recently by teams of crime branch officials has traced the locations of calls to Naxal-stronghold areas in Kanker district in Bastar region, Gariabandh district in east Chhattisgarh and Rajnandgaon district in north Chhattisgarh, a senior police officer, requesting anonymity, disclosed this newspaper on Friday.
“We have arrested around two dozen small bookies during the raids. But what shocked us was the phone call details recovered from mobile phones seized from these bookies. The call details revealed that big bookies were running the betting racket from remote Naxal-infested villages, which are out of bounds of security forces”, the senior crime branch officer said.
However, the police has not been able to establish so far if the bookies operating from Maoist-hit villages are getting patronage from Naxals.
The modus operandi of betting racket run by these bookies has also taken the police by surprise.
According to the police officer, much before the IPL-6 began, the bookies hired houses in these villages to run their operations without attracting police attention. The bookies have been running the betting business mostly with the help of DTH services, taken in the name of the landlords of the houses. Hence, police has failed to get any clue about their operations.
“The bookies also used mobile SIMs of other states like Maharashtra to avoid attention of police. Several SIMs purchased from Nagpur and Mumbai have been seized from these dens. In fact, three small bookies arrested here recently during the crackdown have spilled the beans about operations by big bookies in Naxal-infested villages”, he added.
“We are taking measures to reach the big bookies operating from remote villages”, the police officer said.