TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Panjim police arrested three bookies from a rented apartment in Miramar on a tip off, while they were accepting online bets on the ongoing one-day day cricket match between Sri Lanka and South Africa Wednesday evening. Sunil Shukla, Hitesh Desai and Hitesh Jatakia, all hailing from Mumbai were caught red-handed accepting bets. The raiding team seized 16 mobile phones, laptops and other equipments.
Panjim police inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai said the alleged bookies were connected with their main “boss” identified as one Hitesh outside Goa.
“They operated through their boss Hitesh. The betting happened online… six mobiles phone were connected to one laptop. All this was monitored by Hitesh from outside Goa,” the officer said.
There was other software found for betting and seized. The rates, Prabhudesai said, was fixed by the main boss. “The rates for the match were fixed by Hitesh and it would change every hour,” he added.
The trio had come to Goa hours before the police raid and rented out the apartment at Rs 2,500 per day. The main bookie owns a bungalow at Arpora where the alleged bookies had decided to spend the remaining holiday after the match. They will be produced before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Panjim for police remand Thursday.
Police will soon launch a search to trace the main boss and will seek help of its counterparts.
Prabhduesai said the alleged bookies’ links with bookies in Mumbai and Delhi and IPL betting racket will also be probed.
Two months back, the Calangute police had busted an alleged IPL betting syndicate at Candolim and arrested six bookies.
They were released on bail weeks later. The police is yet to charge sheet the case.
