Police bust cricket betting racket in J&K; 3 arrested

Three people were arrested for allegedly running a betting racket in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district, police said today.

The arrested, identified as Varinder Kumar, his assistant Rohit Kumar and Rajinder Kumar, were arrested yesterday when they were accepting bets on a cricket match, they said.

Mobile phones, notebooks with records of recent bets and Rs 30,000 cash were seized from them, Udhampur Senior Superintendent of Police Rayees Mohammad Bhat said.

"Based on reliable information, a police team raided a rented shop at Salain Talib, Udhampur, belonging to one Raju," Bhat said.

Raju is believed to be the kingpin of the racket, he said, adding that Varinder Kumar was an associate of Raju.

The SSP said Raju is the tenant of the raided shop and a manhunt was launched to nab him. "More than Rs 30,000 has been recovered from the possession of the arrested persons," he added.

On primary interrogation, Varinder Kumar revealed that Raju and other bookies used to accept bets on cricket matches, including of the IPL, and pass on the information to top bookies in Mumbai, the SSP said.

"Raju's network is spread across India and he used to accept bets from sub-agents on cricket matches," Bhat said, adding that the seized mobile phones had contact numbers of bookies, sub-agents and recordings related to bets, he said.

"A case under section 3/4/13 of Gambling Act was registered at the Udhampur police station. Further investigation into the case is going on," he added.