Bhubaneswar: The Puri police have busted an alleged illegal betting racket, arresting four local men and seizing Rs 25.35 lakh in cash while freezing another Rs 31.81 lakh in linked bank accounts.
Those arrested are Prasanna Prusty, considered to be the prime accused, B Nageswar Rao, Biswanath Lenka and Ramakanta Sahoo, are all residents of Puri district and in their 40s. They were reportedly unemployed and had been operating the racket for several months.
Acting on a tip-off about suspicious betting activity, the Cyber Crime and Economic Offences Wing conducted a raid near Masani Chandi Temple in Puri town on Tuesday evening. Police found that a g
roup of people had gathered there for betting; while many fled the scene, the four accused were nabbed on the spot along with Rs 3 lakh in cash and six mobile phones. Further searches at the residence of Prusty led to the recovery of an additional Rs 22.31 lakh in cash, believed to be proceeds from the betting operations.
During interrogation, the accused reportedly confessed to collecting bets from local gamblers, transferring the funds to a handler saved in their contacts as ‘boss’, and then crediting points on a betting app to facilitate further wagering.
Puri SP Prateek Singh stated that two of the accused, Prusty and Sahoo, have prior criminal records. “They were unemployed and were acting as intermediaries in the betting chain,” Singh said, adding that the police are now working to identify and arrest other members of the network, including the higher-ups.
The total value of assets linked to the racket stands at around Rs 57 lakh.
Police have warned of strict action against anyone involved in illegal betting during the IPL.