Six cricket bookies arrested in Kolkata

Kolkata, March 25 (IANS) Six people were arrested for allegedly operating a cricket betting racket here and cash, mobile phones and laptops seized from them on Wednesday, police said.

"The bookies from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal were operating the betting business here and they were using a software to conduct the betting operations... we have seized the software," Bidhannagar Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective Department) Kankar Prasad Barui told media persons.

Acting on a tip off, police raided the house at Bangur in the north eastern fringes of the city where the betting racket was being run in the guise of a share trading business.

Police said they seized 14 mobile phones, two laptops, hard disks and Rs.37 lakh cash, among other items.

Barui said the bookies were using mobile phones to fix the rates for the cricket matches in the ongoing World Cup.

"The rates were getting updated every 10 minutes," he said.

Barui said remittances between Rs.10 lakh to Rs.50 lakh per day were made during the course of the cricket matches.

Police have found names of several people from other states like Delhi who used to place bets on cricket matches.

"We are enquiring about the possibility of a bigger racket or the people behind it," he said.