Kolkata Police’s Detective Department (DD) and Anti-Rowdy Squad (ARS) teams on Sunday arrested three men for allegedly running a cricket-betting operation from the F1 Block of Eden Gardens during Day 3 of the first Test between India and South Africa.
After receiving a tip-off on Saturday, officers tracked down the trio, who were reportedly placing bets through mobile applications such as br365, R777, and 1xBook, among others, while the match was underway. Some other suspects managed to flee before the police reached the spot.
The arrested men—Altaf Khan (26), Ankush Raj (22), and Patel Pinkal Kumar (39)—are all from outside West Bengal. Altaf is a resident of Yavatmal in Maharashtra, Ankush belongs to Arrah in Bihar, and Pinkal Kumar, the oldest, is from Unjha in Gujarat.
“Three Held Running Nationwide Betting Network”: Kolkata Police
It has now been found that the three have been operating betting networks in different parts of the country.
“All three detained persons were thoroughly checked. Some incriminating transactions could be found on their mobile phones. The phones were seized after screenshots of such transactions were obtained… Further investigation is underway,” a senior officer of the Kolkata Police said.
“Phones once seized are sealed off. They used to watch the matches live on those phones and were active on those betting apps is what we know as of now. We will know the exact modus operandi in the coming days,” Rupesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Crime, Kolkata Police, told Sportstar.
A case was later filed at the Maidan Police Station under Sections 61(2)/318(4) of the BNS, along with Sections 2 and 4 of the Gambling and Prize Competition Act. According to police, the investigation is still in progress to follow the cash movement and identify more suspects tied to the operation.
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