In a major crackdown on illegal betting activities, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Varanasi Police dismantled a sophisticated betting syndicate operating from a flat in the Taktakpur area under Cantt police station limits. The raid, conducted in the early hours of Monday, resulted in the arrest of 13 individuals, including tech-savvy punters from Mumbai, Jaipur, and other cities.
Details of the Raid
Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the SOG team raided the flat at around 5 am and apprehended the accused. According to ACP (Crime) Alok Priyadarshi, data and documents seized during the operation suggested that bets worth over Rs 20 crore placed by clients connected through various social media platforms were being managed by the racket.
Arrested Individuals
The arrested individuals include Ritesh Diwakar Shukla and Rahul Maurya of Maharashtra, Ravi Yadav of Varanasi, Arpit Tiwari, Aman Singh, Vikas Patel, Ziyaulhaq, Amit Tiwari, Sachin Singh alias Shaile, Gaurav Chauhan, Devesh Chauhan of Jaipur in Rajasthan, Aniket Kumar of Fatehpur, and Saurabh Chauhan of Etawah. Ritesh Diwakar Shukla was identified as the alleged kingpin of the racket. Although Shukla hails from Varanasi, he operated the network from Mumbai. Ravi Yadav was his close associate and managed the gang's operations in Varanasi.
Modus Operandi
According to police, the other members were selected from different parts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. They were highly educated and technically skilled, operating from a single location in Varanasi. During the raid, police recovered 17 smartphones, 10 laptops, a cryptocurrency digital wallet, ledgers, and Rs 1,350 in cash.
Role of 'Malik'
Preliminary investigations suggest that the syndicate was guided by a person identified as “Malik”, who trained members in methods of earning money through betting. The gang allegedly paid for advertisements on Meta platforms, using cricket-related promotional content to attract users. Those who clicked on the links were redirected to Malik through Telegram, where he allegedly lured them into betting by claiming that his predictions had remained accurate for the past 10 years.
Scale of Operations
Investigators suspect that nearly two lakh people were linked to the racket over the past eight to ten months. Betting transactions routed through the network in the last one month alone were estimated at around Rs 20 crore. The gang earned a commission of about six per cent on these transactions, with earnings estimated at around Rs 1.80 crore distributed among the members.
Financial Trail
The investigation has revealed that Shukla allegedly purchased land in Lucknow through hawala transactions. Police have also detected deposits of around Rs 1 crore in digital accounts and traced cryptocurrency holdings worth nearly Rs 20 lakh in a digital wallet linked to the accused.
Next Steps
ACP Alok Priyadarshi stated that apart from tracing the roots of Shukla's betting racket in other states, police will also work to solve the mystery of Malik. The investigation is ongoing to uncover the full extent of the syndicate's operations.
