Gujarat bookies held from Nagpada: Cops explore possibility of bigger betting racket

According to sources, the arrested accused were found accepting bets on the IPL match between Chennai Super King and Kings XI Punjab on Saturday.

After the arrest of seven Gujarat-based bookies from a Mumbai hotel, the Nagpada police are now probing the possibility of a bigger betting racket.

According to sources, the arrested accused were found accepting bets on the IPL match between Chennai Super King and Kings XI Punjab on Saturday.

Among the seven arrested, Idris Habibbhai Kapadia, 30, seems to be a big fish, sources said. The police are checking if he has links with an all India network of bookies, apart from possible international links.

The investigating team of Nagpada police has seized 71 mobile phones, laptops and other articles from the hotel rooms. The laptops had voice recorder software, the clips of which have been sent to the forensic laboratory for analysis, the police said.

“A majority of calls made on the 71 phones were from Gujarat. We are further investigating the case,” said an officer.

The Nagpada police have also contacted the Gujarat police to get further details of those arrested and check if they were involved in such cases in the past.

The police arrested Kapadia, Hanif Suma, 39, Deepak Patel, 32, Sanjay Saluja, 34, Vicky Kanojiya, 27, Mehboob Wakawala, 32 and Ashish Parikh, 35, from Bombay International Hotel in Nagpada.

Following a directive from chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the state police are leaving no stone unturned to crack down on betting on cricket matches.