Telangana CID, SIT nabs eight operators from three states for conducting online betting

Hyderabad, Sep 24 (PTI) The Telangana CID along with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe online betting app cases has apprehended eight operators from three states for allegedly causing public to lose large sums of money.

In a first-of-its-kind operation, the SIT and CID teams conducted raids across six locations in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab against app organisers, and nabbed eight accused operators, for conducting online betting through six betting apps, Additional Director General of Police (CID), Charu Sinha said in a release.

During the raids, several hardware devices with huge data have been seized, she said.

The details of bank accounts, phone numbers, and email IDs were collected and some of the bank accounts have been frozen. Upon verification, it was found that the accused are operating online betting business on a large scale across India, including Telangana, where such activities are prohibited, the official said.

Investigation disclosed the main culprits may be based abroad and efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining accused at the earliest, police said.

On the modus operandi, police said the accused persons/organisers developed online betting apps/ websites to attract users, targeted youngsters and the general public with promises of easy money.

They encouraged registrations, collected deposits through digital wallets, UPI, or bank accounts from those betting and operated games like casino or sports betting.

The accused frequently changed domains or using intermediaries to evade law enforcement, police said adding these activities led users into financial and psychological distress, benefiting the organisers at their expense.

To curb the illegal activities of online betting, the Telangana government had constituted the SIT under the overall supervision of the Additional Director General of Police, CID, for the thorough investigation of online betting app cases.

The SIT took up investigation of four important online betting app cases which was registered against the organisers of online betting platforms and other similar applications, for providing access to online gaming involving real money in Telangana, where such activities are prohibited, police added.

In March this year, the police registered cases against illegal betting apps and promoters following complaints that these applications lured youth and general public to make easy money and eventually led them into complete financial and psychological distress, even leading to instances of suicide.

The cases were registered against the managements of the illegal betting apps/other applications, few film actors and several social media influencers for allegedly promoting online betting apps through social media platforms under various provisions of the Telangana State Gaming Act, 2017, BNS and IT Act. PTI VVK VVK ROH