The Raipur Police on Friday arrested four more bookies from Pune, Maharashtra, for their involvement in operating the Mahadev Reddy Bat Book – 23. These arrests made following the inputs given by five others arrested a day ago. The accused had been deceitfully obtaining bank accounts from unsuspecting individuals to facilitate their betting transactions. The suspects were found using these bank accounts without the account holders’ knowledge for the Mahadev Satta operations. Acting on this information, law enforcement officials arrested the four accused from a flat in Ikolakh Society, Mahalunge Baner Road, Pune.

 

The accused were managing their betting activities using laptops and mobile phones. A substantial amount of evidence was seized from the flat, including 22 mobile phones, three laptops, two Wi-Fi routers, 12 passbooks, 24 cheque books, and 72 ATM cards. The total value of the seized items is estimated at approximately Rs 5,00,000. Information obtained from the seized devices revealed transactions worth crores of rupees, indicating the large scale of the operation. Additionally, details of around a dozen bank accounts used for these transactions are being scrutinised. The investigation began when Dashrath Nishad, an employee of Galaxy International Enterprises Pvt Ltd., reported suspicious activities involving his bank account to the Moudhapara police station.

 

Nishad’s friend, Mohit Vishwakarma, had requested him to open a bank account, which was then used for illegal betting transactions without Nishad’s knowledge. This led to the registration of a case under various sections of the CG Gambling Prohibition Act 2022. Following Nishad’s report, a joint team from the Anti Crime and Cyber Unit and Moudhapara Police Station conducted a raid in Pune. The investigation revealed that the arrested individuals were operating online betting through the Mahadev Satta App’s Bet Book Panel No 23 ID Panel during cricket matches. The apprehended individuals include Tushar Shivnkar, Karan Singh, Shubham Singh, and Kamal Chakradhari, all residents of different districts in Chhattisgarh.