Bhopal:

A betting racket on the T20 cricket world cup worth Rs 15 crore has been busted by the police in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain.

The police said the money comprises currencies such as dollars, dirhams and pounds from seven nations.

The main accused has been identified as Piyish Chopra. He managed to give the cops a slip. Nine other accused in the betting ring from Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have been arrested.

“They ran the betting racket from Chopra’s home in Dreams Colony, under the jurisdiction of Neelganga police station. The police raided the location on Thursday night, coinciding with the T20 match between Bangladesh and the Netherlands,” Inspector General Kumar Singh said.

“Rs 14.58 crore in cash was seized. They included a significant amount of foreign currencies and many gadgets,” Mr Singh said.

The state police have flashed information to their counterparts in all the states to help in catching the accused who are on the run. Apart from the main accused, the others have been identified Jasprit Singh, Rohit Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Mayur Jain, Satprit Singh, Akash Masihi, Chetan Negi, Harish Teli, and Gaurav Jain.

Considering the scale of the racket, the state police will inform the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other agencies, the police officer said.

A 40-year-old man was arrested in connection with cricket betting in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, police also recovered Rs 23 lakh cash and 1.25 kg gold from him, an official said. The accused has been identified as Vishal Mehta (40), a resident of Sudama Nagar, Indore. The police raided the house of the accused on Monday evening.

“Dwarkapuri police in the city had raided a house in Sudama Nagar on Monday evening. The police arrested a man and recovered a laptop and nine mobiles from his possession in connection with cricket betting. The bets were being placed through a UAE-based website using the laptop,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Abhinay Vishwakarma said.

Meanwhile, the police team also found a betting diary in which the accounts of crores of rupees have been found. Information about Rs 23 lakh cash and 1.25 kg gold was also being given to the Income Tax department and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), he added.

“During the interrogation, the accused has also revealed the names of his associates. The police will take them into custody as well and will interrogate them. On the other hand, the UAE connection into the matter is also being investigated,” the officer said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)