UP Police arrests 2 at Delhi airport for siphoning money through gaming racket

Sambhal (UP), Oct 9 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested two gang members allegedly involved in creating fake accounts on gaming websites to siphon off money, officials said on Thursday.

Around Rs 1 crore deposited across 700 bank accounts linked to the racket have been frozen, they added.

A team of Sambhal police arrested the duo -- Mukesh Kakkar and Ankit Kumar -- at the Delhi airport immigration upon their return from Bangkok, Superintendent of Police (Sambhal) Krishan Kumar Bishnoi said. Both of them have been sent to jail.

He said police had issued lookout circulars for the accused.

Earlier, nine people had been arrested in connection with the racket, according to police.

"The gang was running an illegal online betting platform under a franchise model named BOB777, with outlets established in several parts of India. One such franchise was being operated in Shalimar Bagh, Delhi, by its owners Jai Kakkar and Aditya Gupta," Bishnoi told reporters.

Franchise manager Ingit Kohli, a native of Chandausi currently residing in Haryana's Panchkula, collected people's bank passbooks and ATM cards under the pretext of helping them get their loans waived, police said.

The gang would then fraudulently change mobile numbers linked to those accounts and use them for online betting transactions, they added.

"The accused transferred the betting proceeds through these manipulated accounts and distributed the money among themselves," Bishnoi said.

"They were also aided by one Deepak Singh, who had earlier been jailed, in forging Aadhaar cards by changing addresses and obtaining new SIM cards. These SIMs were then linked to fake bank accounts to avoid police detection," he added.

Bishnoi said Kakkar, who was arrested on Thursday, was responsible for monitoring the accounts linked to the illegal gaming platform using SIM cards obtained through fraudulent means. He also allegedly managed large cash transactions generated from online betting.

Two FIRs have been registered in the case, and further investigation is underway, the police added. PTI COR KIS PRK RHL