Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 24 APRIL: Indian Premier League (IPL) has now been a season for punters to test their luck and it is the high time for youths in almost every town including Krishnagar in Nadia, where lakhs of rupees are being transacted everyday in betting in Krishnagar alone.
For Romit (name changed), every match of IPL counts and means a lot. He is very happy because he won Rs 10,000 in a bet for the match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Refusing to summarise about the betting format, he said, “Last year, I did not bet above 1000 but this year, I have increased the bar and the results so far have been good. This is a very good way to make big money in the shortest time.”

Betting which is illegal in India has been a challenge for the police to check, with punters using 35 mobile applications and websites for communications and exchanging encrypted messages.
What surprised the police is that recent arrests of bookies did not curb betting where prominent youths and even school boys are involved in it.
Police sources said betting was rampant in Krishnagar during IPL and the recent arrest of three youths and seizure of mobile phones, a SUV vehicle and some amount of cash during a raid at Chaargate area in Krishnagar was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Special Operation Group (SOG) and Krishnagar Cyber Crime officials last night conducted a raid at Kalinagar area in Krishnagar and arrested a youth named Srikant Nath who was reportedly betting over an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangaluru (SRB) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). The police also seized Rs 4 lakhs, a mobile phone and a motorbike priced about Rs 2.5 lakh.
Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Inspector-in-Charge, Krishnagar Cyber Crime Police Station said, “We produced the accused before the special court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Krishnagar today where the magistrate after hearing pleas remanded him in police custody for three days. Acting on a tip-off, we raided the area where he was found betting on an IPL match.”

Mr Gupta also said the accused, who works as a bookie, uses more than 27 mobile applications for transaction of betting money and we have found several transactions to the tune of Rs 9 lakhs, 4 lakhs, 2 lakhs and others were made through his mobile phone.
On how cricket betting works, the sources said a punter contacts a local bookie with whom he invests money. The local bookie has direct or indirect contacts with the main bookie who sits in some part of the world and decides on the odds of the match.
“The prime bookies maintain a trustworthy image in finances and match result predictions. Bettors believe that the bookies predict match results logically,” a source added.
This business runs on trust as there is no documentation in it. The bettor who loses money cannot complain as he is also an offender legally.
Tags: #IPL #KrishnagarCyberCrimePoliceStation #Betting