Tardeo police pose as punter to bust illegal betting racket, arrest 7

Mumbai Posing as punters, the Tardeo police busted an illegal betting racket at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse and ended up arresting seven bookmakers on Monday

Mumbai Posing as punters, the Tardeo police busted an illegal betting racket at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse and ended up arresting seven bookmakers on Monday.

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The Tardeo police had received information that some bookies were taking illegal bets without making entries or issuing coupons or receipts for the same. This way the accused allegedly evaded taxes running in crores, said a police officer, adding that they were taking bets on a Pune horse race.

The police then sent punters to stall 12-A and noticed that though the accused took ₹1,500 he didn’t issue any receipt nor did he make any entry of it in any of the registers leading to his arrested. The police also seized an amount of ₹6.5 lakhs from the accused.

Other stalls and counters at the racecourse issue valid receipts and pay GST and other taxes when they take bets from a customer, said a police officer.

“When we searched the stall, we saw several rough sheets. The employees working at the stall told us that it was being done purposely to evade taxes and therefore entries of lesser amounts were made by the accused. We suspect this way the accused evaded taxes running in crores,” said the police officer.

The police arrested Sushil Atkar, Aadesh Kumar Singh, Anwar Shaikh, Sajid Ansari, Surendra Waghmare, Tausif Mansuri and Umesh Singh.

The accused have been booked under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code for cheating other relevant sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887. “We have seized a currency counting machine, several phones and cash ₹6.44 lakhs from the accused,” said a police officer.

The police said they have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to check the rough sheets and find out how much tax was evaded by the accused till date.

Vivek Shende, senior inspector of police, Tardeo police station said that they have also written to Income Tax department and the GST department informing the tax authorities about the suspected tax evasion.