Cops hit bookies for six before India-Pakistan clash

 Anticipating an India-Pakistan final in the ongoing Champions Trophy, currently underway in England, the betting racket went all guns blazing to make big and quick moolah. But the nexus was broken before the high-profile clash could take place.

Khanna police arrested four persons for accepting bets on matches in the tournament.

As the accused were carrying out betting through online transactions, police suspected that the four -- Naresh Kumar of Khatikan Waala Mohalla, Dinesh Kumar of Gill enclave, Sanjeev Verma of Guru Ramdass Nagar and Monty of Mata Rani Muhalla -- might have been in touch with international betting rackets through internet.

The accused are aged between 20 to 35 years, police added.

Khanna superintendent of police (investigation) Jasvir Singh said a team was carrying out checking at Khatikan Chowk in Khanna on Wednesday evening when they got a tip-off that some persons were playing fraud with people by accepting bets on England-Pakistan match. They added that based on the information, police raided the house of Naresh Kumar in Khatikan Waala Muhalla and found the group accepting bets on the match.

Six mobile phones, a laptop and Rs 8,000 were seized from them.

He added that the accused were booked under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and various sections of the Gambling Act at the city police station.

Police said the accused would be produced in a court to seek their police remand to get more information about the racket. He added the accused are suspected to have accepted bets on the previous matches in the Champions Trophy as well.

Cops were now trying to break the codes used by the accused in carrying out betting. They added that the data in the laptop and mobile phones was being scanned to get more information about the codes and customers.

Police said a similar case was registered against the accused at the city police station in 2007 too when they were arrested for betting.

The investigators say the online transaction was of worth more than Rs 1 lakh. They had just started accepting bets when they were arrested.

Naresh is a financier, Dinesh and Sanjeev verma are into betting business, Monty is Dinesh's employee


Six mobile phones, a laptop and Rs 8,000 were seized from them.

Cops are trying to break the codes used by the accused in carrying out betting. They are scanning the data in the laptop and mobile phones to get information about the codes and customers

A similar case was registered against the accused at city police station in 2007 too. They were arrested for placing bets.